Safety questioned in Manitoba Housing complexes

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This article was published 20/05/2010 (5847 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A pair of recent murders in north Winni­peg have prompted calls for increased security at provincially-owned housing complexes.

Winnipeg recorded its seventh homicide of the year on May 11 when a man was stabbed to death outside the Milton Court apartment block located in the 1500 block of Notre Dame Avenue. A month earlier, another man was murdered near the Gilbert Park apartment complex located on Burrows Avenue.

Both apartment complexes are owned by Manitoba Housing.

“Things are out of control,” said Springfield MLA and Progressive Conservative housing critic Ron Schuler.

Schuler said the two murders indicate that stronger security measures are needed at provincial housing complexes.

“We only hear about the big time stuff like murders, but there are all kinds of things happening in and around Manitoba Housing facilities,” he said.

“Residents have safety concerns ranging from drugs and alcohol, to gangs and fighting.  All of these things have to be dealt with.”

Kevin Gamble, Manitoba Housing’s director of security, said many of those concerns are already being addressed.

“In the last year we’ve evicted 273 units due to criminal activity or behavioral issues,” he said.

Manitoba Liberal leader Jon Gerrard said that’s not enough, adding the provincial government needs to do more.

“The government should be the best landlord in the province, not the worst,” he said.

Community activist James Lathlin said security for provincial housing units is woefully inadequate.

“Complaints are rarely checked out and nothing is ever consistent in these neighbourhoods,” he said.

“It is a sad thing because people are trying to get back on their feet and ahead in life, however these areas are ignored.”

 Manitoba Housing currently employs a staff of 18 full-time security officers and 40 private security officers. They are responsible for overseeing 13,000 Manitoba Housing units.

Gamble said despite the recent incident at Milton Court, there have been relatively few disturbances in the area.

“We’ve had a couple calls of noise and disturbance but that is it,” he said. “This is the first serious call for the area and in this case, was no reflection on any tenants.”

A resident of nearby Cecil Street disagreed, saying Milton Court is frequently the site of late night shouting matches.
“They are often domestic in nature,” the resident said.

A resident of a nearby women’s group home said the murder near the Notre Dame apartment complex was alarming.
“We woke up to the police ribbons surrounding our house,” she said. “We were very scared.”

Gerrard said one way to reduce the number of incidents at provincial housing com­plexes would be to give people already living there a role in selecting prospective tenants.

Gamble said Manitoba Housing has held dozens of tenant forums in recent months and they have yielded some positive suggestions on how to improve security.

“We are looking at things like cameras and card access,” he said. “These are strong initiatives to increase security that have come from tenants.”

rob.brown@canstarnews.com