Management, residents quarrel at meeting about Lions Place future

Angry outbursts punctuated a meeting between residents and management Thursday at Lions Place — a non-profit housing complex in Winnipeg on the verge of being sold to an Alberta firm.

Gilles Verrier, executive director of Lions Housing Centres, which owns the 287-suite building on Portage Avenue, gave a presentation outlining the expenses for managing the building — insurance, taxes, security, pest control and regular utilities.

While he went through a list of repairs to long-undetected plumbing leaks, a woman in the audience of nearly 100 people stood and shouted.

"I don't care what you went through. It's not our responsibility, it is yours," she said.

"Not if we can't pay for it," Verrier responded.

The woman also took exception to the idea that Lions Housing Centres has dealt with a bedbug issue, saying she has endured the pests for three years and counting.

"It's wrong. I'm fed up with this," she said as staff at the facility tried to calm her.

"I have my rights to sit here. No, you can't take me out. Forget it. Get away from me," the woman yelled.

The sale of Lions Place, one of the largest non-profit housing complexes in Manitoba, has been a point of contention since residents learned it was up for sale in July. 

Last week, notices were slipped under residents' doors that let them know an offer from an Alberta firm had been accepted and the sale could be complete by late January.

A seniors action committee that formed in summer wants Lions Housing Centres to find another non-profit organization to operate the building and complained about the lack of transparency in the potential sale.

On Thursday, Verrier said multiple non-profit organizations have declined to purchase the building. Two non-profits viewed the facility, but at $844, rents are too low for them to make an offer, he said.

"If we can't do it, why would they," Verrier said to the crowd at the meeting.

Over the past three years, Lions Housing Centres has spent $3.6 million to upgrade mechanical, elevators, lighting, heat pumps, do renovations to rooms and improve security, he said.

That, combined with below-market rental rates and Manitoba Housing cutting subsidies for some of the units in 2018, has depleted reserve funds.

"We cannot use reserve funds from Lions Manor or Lions View to keep Lions Place operational any longer."

Lions Manor, at the corner of Portage and Sherbrook Street, is another property owned by Lions Housing Centres, while Lions View is supportive housing located in the Lions Place building.

Tom Simms, whose 93-year-old mother has been living at Lions Place for 25 years, confronted Verrier to ask who exactly he is, saying no one has heard of him.

At the start of the meeting, when the first woman was shouting, she demanded Verrier be brought in to face the residents. She was speaking to him but didn't know it.

Referring to himself in third person, Verrier said he was probably outside, before revealing he was actually Verrier.

"We don't even know you," the woman yelled.

Simms, a member of the seniors action committee, asked Verrier how he is qualified to work in the non-profit housing sector.

"Because I understand business … [and] what it means to serve a customer," said Verrier, who said he became executive director 2.5 years ago at the invitation of the Lions Housing Centres board of directors. He did not explain his background further.

The pandemic started shortly after he took the position, so there have been few opportunities for residents to get to know him, he said.

Application for rent increase 

Verrier, who was accused Thursday of being arrogant and mean-spirited, said he is vocal and speaks his mind, which people do not like. That's why he has no social media presence, he said.

Verrier told the crowd the governments abandoned them. Lions Housing Centres has improved conditions for their health but it can no longer do it, because Lions Place is losing about $8,000 every month, he said.

"We're using up our resources," he said against a chorus of voices yelling back. "Governments haven't had the balls or the strength to fund properly. Your system, whether it's provincial or federal, is failing you."

Lions Housing Centres has applied to the Residential Tenancies Branch for a rent increase of 10.3 per cent, Verrier said. If allowed, that will be applied April 1 and will help to keep the facility operating.

He said no evictions will occur after a change in ownership because every resident has a lease agreement that must be observed.

Staff will be offered positions with Lions Housing Centres or can choose to become employees of the new owners, he said.

Lions Housing Centres board member Pete Sanderson said the only way things can improve is if the province "brings some real money to the table." If that happens, the board could break the sale and pay the penalties involved, he said.

"The penalties are real, but they're not so bad until the deal is concluded, and it's not concluded [yet]," he said.

"But until the government comes up with real money, we're in trouble."

Manitoba Liberal Party Leader Dugald Lamont, the only politician at the meeting, told the crowd he will raise that idea in question period at the legislature.