Absentee landlord sits on empty units as St. Stephen struggles with homelessness

A Calgary landlord who snapped up 20 properties in St. Stephen three years ago is letting some sit empty as the town grapples with homelessness and a lack of affordable housing.

"I don't understand why you'd buy buildings and keep them empty," said Wendy Gilmore, who lives near 9 Schoodic St., a building that has been empty since tenants and squatters were evicted under a special law targeting drug activity.

Annette Penkala of Calgary, the owner of Starshine Properties, bought the buildings between December 2020 and December 2021 for more than $2.4 million. She doesn't own properties anywhere else in New Brunswick.

Three of her buildings — with nine, seven, and four units — are vacant, and neighbours say several others are never fully rented. 

Despite repeated efforts by email and phone, and a knock on the door of her Calgary home, CBC News has not been able to speak with Penkala. Even the RCMP say she's difficult to reach.

Municipal leaders in the southwestern New Brunswick town of about 4,600 say they don't know Penkala's plans for the properties. Nor can the town force Penkala to fix them up, the municipality says, citing strict provincial rules.  

Penkala's local address is listed as 53 Prince William St., the office of lawyer Randall Wilson. When asked how to contact Penkala, he said in an email that he cannot discuss clients.

CBC News visited the Prince William Street address and was told by construction workers in the empty building that the lawyer had moved out "months ago."

Despite this, Penkala still lists the address in corporate and legal documents. Starshine is registered in Edmonton at the address of IncorpMaster, which offers small businesses an address to use for legal purposes.

Cheyann Matthews, co-founder of the advocacy group Take Back our Town, said there's no doubt the vacancies in what were once low-rent units, are contributing to homelessness in St. Stephen.

"Allowing someone to come in and create a monopoly where they buy up 20 or 25 properties — that's not OK," she said.

"That needs to be looked at and scrutinized under the biggest microscope, and there needs to be an understanding as to why that was allowed to happen in the first place." 

Statistics from the Southwest New Brunswick Service Commission indicate 60 per cent of St. Stephen residents live in apartment buildings or other rental properties.

Almost half of these tenants spend more than 30 per cent of their household income on rent.