Manitoba Housing sends long term residents packing

Some of Winnipeg's most vulnerable people will soon have a home at a revamped Manitoba Housing complex, but community members want to know why it comes at the expense of another vulnerable group of people already living in the building.

"It's almost like we're being forced out at metaphorical gunpoint. You either do this or you're done," says Allan Cochrane, a resident who has lived at 400 Logan for 35 years.

Cochrane is the lone hold out on a stack of signed tenant transfer agreements for 400 Logan, a building that will soon be used as transitional housing for homeless people with mental health challenges. Seven of the eight remaining tenants agree to vacate the building by February 2017 in exchange for assistance to find a new place to live.

The current vacancy rate for Manitoba Housing is "about 2 per cent", according to a spokesperson for the department.

The low vacancy rate is creating extra stress on residents already struggling to find a new place that meets their needs, including a building with wheelchair accessibility. Others are concerned about leaving a building they say is safe, and ending up in one plagued by drugs, late night parties and bed bugs.

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In an e-mail to CBC, a spokesperson for Manitoba Housing said the department will work closely with each family to "try to accommodate their selected areas."

Residents meet with government representatives

While eight of the nine tenant transfer agreements are signed, residents remain frustrated by the move.

"You'll be dispersed to Transcona, to Elmwood, to St. James. They're destroying the fabric and the spirit and intent of the residents that live here by dispersing us all over Winnipeg. It's like they're disimpowering us," said Cochrane.

A group of residents, led by Cochrane, have met with the area's city councilor, Mike Pagtakhan, and the MLA for Logan, Flor Marcelino. Marcelino is concerned about the displacement of one community for another.

"Do the program for homeless people, fine. But don't disrupt the lives of residents at that building...they have put down roots and have ties to the local community. That place is their home," said Marcelino.

Marcelino and Cochrane point to other empty buildings in the area that could be renovated for the new project.

The building was chosen "because it had vacancies in the living units, two floors had already been converted to empty office space, and it met the needs of WRHA's program without requiring any significant capital investments," according to a Manitoba Housing spokesperson.

It's not reason enough for Cochrane who refuses to sign his transfer agreement and worries what that will mean for him in the new year.

"We have a low apartment vacancy rate. Why would you threaten people and tell them you gotta sign this transfer agreement or you're going to be homeless. You have until February. That's the deepest darkest coldest part of winter, and we're going to be homeless," said Cochrane.