'Nobody ever thought we would go back': displaced Birchwood Terrace tenants can return home

Hundreds of residents forced out of Birchwood Terrace after serious structural deterioration left the apartment complex in unsafe living condition have been given the green light to return home. 

In an email sent to tenants, Ladco Company, which owns the apartment block's property manager, Lakewood Agencies, said the City of Winnipeg granted Birchwood Terrace an occupancy permit on Tuesday — although no moving date has been fixed yet. 

The apartment complex in the St. James neighbourhood was evacuated on May 9 after deterioration was detected in the steel columns of its parkade, putting the entire building's stability into question. 

Roughly 250 tenants were forced out of their homes on short notice, leaving people scrambling and some living in hotels for more than seven months.

But on Wednesday, the City of Winnipeg told CBC News the apartment complex "met the conditions and requirements" of the Mitigate Unsafe Conditions Order, and had been issued a full occupancy permit allowing tenants to return. 

"Nobody ever thought we would get back there … nobody ever thought we would go back home," said Debby Ross, a Birchwood Terrace tenant who has been living in a hotel room for the past seven months. "It's been one hell of a journey."

Ross and her two cats are moving back to Birchwood Terrace. She has been living at the building complex for the last five years, where she says complete strangers have become part of her family. 

"There's something about that place that I love … Birchwood's not taking that away from us," she said. 

But despite being one step closer to going back to her home, she is concerned about the state her apartment has been left in while the building has undergone construction work.

"I'm choosing to move back, that's my home, but to go back, leave it as I had it," Ross said. 

Ladco Company told tenants in the email that they would be contacted individually to arrange the moving day and meet with the resident manager to inspect the units, complete a conditions report and "do anything else" prior to settling back into the apartments, including signing lease agreements and paying for a first-month rent deposit. 

The company said it is "striving to quicken the move-in process," but Ross is concerned about how the timing will work. 

The province has been footing the bill for displaced tenants staying at hotels. Ross said that funding has to be renewed at the end of every month, and with no date confirmed to go back home, she is worried she may not have somewhere to stay after Dec. 31.

"We don't know who's going to be covering, you know, any other extensions … that's up in the air right now and leaving, you know, a lot of people quite anxious," said Joyce Hilborn, another resident from Birchwood Terrace who has been living in a hotel room since the evacuation.