Tenants question why province is footing bill for displaced Birchwood Terrace residents, not building owner
CBC
The province has been footing the bill for displaced tenants of Birchwood Terrace for over 110 days after the building was found structurally unsafe — a seemingly never-ending saga has left some tenants living in the hotel questioning why the government is paying instead of the property owners.
An unknown number of evacuees from the St. James building remain housed in a Winnipeg hotel, their lives stuck in limbo, without their beds or furniture after a serious structural deterioration led to the evacuation of some 250 tenants in May.
Debby Ross and her two cats lived at Birchwood Terrace for five years. She is living in a hotel and says she has no choice but to wait out the repairs because finding a pet-friendly apartment in her price range in the area has been difficult, if not impossible.
She feels abandoned by Ladco Company Ltd. — which owns Birchwood Terrace — and thinks they should be paying for the displaced residents' hotels.
"Honest to God, they should be paying the price for us. It should not be the city or the province," Ross said.
"They should have been beside us all the way."
Joyce Hilborn, who lived in her two-bedroom suite for over three decades, says she is grateful the province is helping them, but thinks the company needs to take some responsibility.
"When you are owning a building, you should keep it up to standard. And they certainly haven't done that," she said.
"It's very upsetting, we didn't choose to live here [in the hotel]…I wouldn't wish this on anyone."
Hilborn and Ross are just some of the many residents still displaced after the City of Winnipeg issued an order to evacuate the 171-suite building on Portage Avenue on May 9. This came after serious structural deterioration was found in steel columns of the building's parkade.
For Hilborn, the possibility of finding a similar apartment for an affordable price in the area is unlikely — leaving her no choice but to wait for repairs to be complete.
"Most of us are on fixed incomes and I intend to stick to my budget. I don't intend to go into debt because of somebody else's negligence," she said.
A representative for the company declined CBC's request for comment.
On Sept. 3, CBC asked a government spokesperson how much they've spent housing displaced residents and how many remain in a hotel. Weeks later, there is still no clear answer.
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