Displaced Adanac Apartments residents living in homeless encampment
Cameron MacLean | CBC News | Posted: August 22, 2023 11:18 PM | Last Updated: August 22, 2023
Closure highlights difficulty finding affordable housing, advocates say
Joshua Myran realized Adanac Apartments had issues shortly after moving in last November. Two people were shot in the building within the first week.
"I was like: 'Wow, what did I get myself into?" Myran said.
Myran was placed in the building by St. Boniface Street Links, an outreach group helping homeless people in Winnipeg. At the time, Myran had been homeless for about a year.
After city officials ordered the Adanac building shuttered on Monday, Myran began settling into an encampment on the south bank of the Assiniboine River near the Maryland Street Bridge, preparing for the prospect of another long stretch of homelessness.
He's one of about 12 people living in the camp now and most of them are former Adanac residents, he said.
There had been multiple issues, including homicides, assaults and fires, at the apartment. Last week, fire inspectors found several violations, like a non-functioning fire alarm system and blocked fire escapes.
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The city ordered the owners of the Adanac to vacate the building by 2 p.m. Monday. About 60 people were living there at the time.
While some residents managed to get their belongings before it was boarded up, Myran wasn't so lucky.
"I got there, and they already boarded up the whole thing and I couldn't get any of my stuff out," he said.
Myran has applied for a space with Manitoba Housing, and other agencies like Resource Assistance for Youth are trying to help people living in the camp.
"I think everyone's just waiting for an answer," he said.
While some housing advocates, like Street Links executive director Marion Willis, have argued that housing people in places like the Adanac is better than living in an encampment, one city councillor disagrees.
"This is a life and safety issue," Cindy Gilroy said in an interview on Tuesday.
Some former residents moved out of the Adanac due to safety concerns, preferring to live on the streets, Gilroy said.
She put forward a motion at city council calling on the Manitoba government for more government support workers to be placed in buildings that house people suffering from addictions and mental health struggles.
"That's what the government needs to step in and do, to order the safety of residents and keeping them housed," she said.
A spokesperson for the province said the Manitoba government is helping connect residents with resources and transitioning them to alternate housing.
A reception centre has been set up to help tenants with things like finding somewhere to stay and applying for Manitoba Housing or Employment and Income Assistance.
Siloam Mission, a Christian humanitarian organization, is also working with Adanac residents to help find them new places. Part of the problem is a lack of affordable housing, said executive director Tessa Whitecloud.
"Other cities have three times as much social housing per capita need as we do in Winnipeg," she said.
"We have three housing units for every 20 low-income people. Calgary has nine per 20, Regina has eight per 20."
People in the camp are now bracing for what's next, the possibility of a winter on Winnipeg's streets.
"I'm very worried, in the winter … my fingertips are always cold," Myran said. "It only takes like two seconds and there's just like, feels like little needles, they're poking my fingers."