Winnipeg property owners step up to offer rental units to Syrian refugees
Between 50 and 100 units have been made available so far, says association
Winnipeg property owners have answered the call for rental units to be made available to an anticipated influx of Syrian refugees.
So far, at least six major companies have said they will make a total of 50 to 100 units available when refugees start arriving in the city.
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"We don't have exact numbers for what people are giving up, but I'm 'guess-timating' that it's going to be in the hundreds of units — 50 to 100 at least already," said Avrom Charach, who speaks for the Professional Property Managers Association of Manitoba.
Charach said he expects to hear of more companies getting on board later this week.
"We have property managers representing about 17,000 apartment units who've all said, 'Yes, we're in at various levels,' but I don't know exactly how many people are planning on making them available," he told CBC News.
As for what the units will cost, Charach said property managers have no plans to "give them away for free" and expect fair market rates. Some may choose to offer discounts, he added.
"We need a little bit of assurance that the rent is going to get paid and that the people understand that they have to follow Canadian-style apartment rental rules — which most of these people, if they were middle-class before they ended up stuck in the middle of this war, will understand," he said.
Unusual circumstances
The circumstances are unusual and some of the newcomers might not pass "normal reference checks" as they may not be able to obtain credit information, Charach said.
"Some of these people may have very little ID. All they may have is some card supplied by the United Nations," he said.
"So if they were to walk in my door under normal circumstances, I'd be like, 'I can't rent to you. I don't really know who you are.' So the fact that we're saying to government, 'You send them to us and we'll take them on good faith' is a huge step."
The provincial government has yet to confirm exactly how many property managers have offered rental units for Syrian refugees, but a spokesperson told CBC News that officials have already heard from a number of landlords.
On Wednesday afternoon, Labour and Immigration Minister Erna Braun said the biggest question the province still has is how many refugees to expect.
Braun told reporters that her counterparts across Canada have pressed the federal immigration minister for some numbers on Tuesday, but details remain unclear.
Privately sponsored refugees are expected to be part of the first wave to land in Canada sometime before Jan. 1, while government-sponsored refugees are expected to start arriving in the new year, she said.