Province 'outraged' by evictions it says were illegal at Winnipeg apartment block

The provincial government says it's "outraged" by recent evictions at a Winnipeg apartment it says were illegal, which saw dozens of tenants given cash and forced out of the building after a notice was posted at the front entrance Friday saying it was being shut down.

"These events are unacceptable and they're roadblocks to our efforts to end homelessness," Bernadette Smith, minister for housing, addictions and homelessness, said at a Wednesday news conference.

Tenant Kyle Lemke said he awoke Saturday morning to a notice that the locks were being changed by new management, and that people living in Stratford Hall, the three-storey apartment building located at 285 College Ave., had 24 hours to leave.

That was followed by strangers employing what Lemke called "all sorts of intimidation tactics" to get tenants out. He said he was given back his rent for the month and told if he didn't sign the papers they gave him, "you're going to be out on the street in a day, you're going to be homeless, I'm not going to give you any money."

"It's basically like I've been robbed of house and home by some con artist," said Lemke, who's now staying in a hotel with the belongings he could get out in a garbage bag as he tries to find a new place to live. 

"There's no concrete solutions that have been provided in the outlook of my future. It's just me and my cat, Black Beauty, in the hotel now."

Earlier this week, a mattress, bags of clothes and furniture were piled near a garbage bin outside the apartment. People could be seen loading belongings into a moving truck or vehicle, while others sat outside holding a few suitcases, with nowhere to go. 

A city spokesperson said the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service attended the site Friday and found some fire safety systems not operational. The fire department ordered the exits to remain clear and for a "fire watch" be put in place over the weekend, but never ordered the building to be vacated, the city said in an email on Tuesday. 

'Process was not followed': lawyer

In Manitoba, landlords typically have to give tenants notice, often about 30 days, before terminating their lease. Tenants are also supposed to be able to oppose that notice — and a piece of paper posted on a door isn't considered proper notice of termination, lawyer Katrine Dilay said.

"The situation is that the process was not followed," said Dilay, who works with the Public Interest Law Centre.

"Without a proper notice of termination and unless there are exceptional circumstances, like a government body shutting down the building, tenants should presumably still have access to their suite."

She said doing things like entering a suite or seizing tenants' property without permission could result in fines for landlords. Tenants who suffered financial loss can also file a claim.

Minister Smith said the investigation into the evictions by Manitoba's Residential Tenancies Branch is ongoing, and the province is working "non-stop" to identify and re-house displaced tenants.

CBC News has not been able to speak to the new owner of the apartment.

There were 26 tenancy contracts linked to the building where people were evicted, said Consumer Protection Minister Lisa Naylor.

Landlord 'going to be held accountable': minister

But Marion Willis, executive director of the outreach organization St. Boniface Street Links, said there were likely closer to 50 or 60 people living in the building.

That's because many of the tenants were people her organization had worked to move into housing from homeless encampments — people who would often feel obliged to then bring in others from those communities.

"This is a story of people who had a right to be in that building and who were put out, and … every possession they had was taken from them and garbaged," she said, adding she plans to contact police and the Manitoba Human Rights Commission about the evictions.

Willis said she's now talking to tenants her organization has helped at another apartment building on Furby Street, which was recently bought by the same landlord. She said she believes there will be "bloodshed" if the same tactics are used to try to push people out there.

"If he had an ounce of courage in him and if he was a decent human being, [the landlord] would be stepping forward right now to find out who we are, asking for a meeting with us," to "move forward with the next phase of this in a more appropriate way," she said.

Housing Minister Smith said the landlord who ordered the evictions needs to "make amends for what he's done."

"I just say shame on that landlord," she said. "He's going to be held accountable by our government."

But for tenants like Lemke, who is dealing with the eviction while recovering after getting out of the hospital earlier this year following a coma and nearly losing a leg, consequences for the landlord aren't top of mind.

"It's not that I'm looking for accountability," Lemke said. "I'm looking for a one-bedroom [apartment] — which now, unfortunately, I don't even have enough for a first month's deposit."

'Robbed of house and home': Tenant evicted from Winnipeg apartment

5 months ago

Duration 2:10

A tenant of a Winnipeg apartment building where residents were forced out without notice says he feels he's been robbed of his home, while the Manitoba government has condemned the new owner for what it says are illegal evictions.