The 2023 sale of Lions Place, a former seniors’ complex in downtown Winnipeg, amounted to elder abuse through a “targeted dismantling of community for older adults,” a new report claims.
The report, from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, calls for “an immediate public inquiry, investigation and/or audit” into the spending of Lions Club and management of Lions Housing Centres (LHC), which operates the non-profit organization’s housing and care facilities.
“This is particularly urgent given that LHC is still currently responsible for operating Lions Manor [320 Sherbrook St.] and Lions View [311 Furby St.] wherein over 200 older adults live with their support and/or care,” according to the report, titled A Betrayal of Trust: Exploring the Financialization of Lions Place in Winnipeg as a Case of Organizational Elder Abuse.
Lions Place, a 287-unit building at 610 Portage Ave., opened in 1983 with federal government funding (an operating agreement that later transitioned to the province). It was sold last year to Mainstreet Equity Corporation, a Calgary-based, for-profit real estate company, and rebranded as Residences of Portage Commons.
“The case of the sale of Lions Place represents both a major net loss of affordable housing and an example of the targeted dismantling of community for older adults in Winnipeg,” the report states.
“We conclude that it can also be conceptualized as organizational elder neglect and abuse in a community setting, reflective of a broader problem of mistreatment of older adults more generally, manifested here in mistreatment by a non-profit charitable organization.”
CBC News has reached out to LHC and the province for reaction to the report.
The report’s authors cited scholarly research, media coverage, and in-person interviews with 22 current tenants, one former tenant, two family members, six former LHC staff, and four community stakeholders, as the sources for its findings.
“Our data document numerous harms related to the sale that have affected tenants, their quality of life, and their community. The financialization of seniors housing is not only part of a broader process threatening non-profit and affordable housing in Canada — our analysis suggests this process is also tied to deep-rooted ageism and ableism,” the report says.
“In the case of LHC, it represents an overwhelming failure of their mission and values that harmed tenants and their community.”
At the time of the sale, the province announced a two-year rent supplement agreement with Mainstreet, in which the government was providing $1.2 million to cushion against increases. It applied to seniors living there during the ownership transition.
There is “a great deal of anxiety” as that deal is set to expire in one year, said Tom Simms, whose 94-year-old mother has been at Lions Place for 25 years.
He’s hoping the new provincial government will step in and extend the protection.
“I think the big immediate-term thing,” he said.
The report also rebukes LHC for abandoning its mission and values as a registered charity in the immediate years leading up to the sale.
“The organization operated according to the logic of a for-profit institution and there was a growing separation between the interests of management and tenants,” it says. “The board and management became increasingly insular and narrow-minded, at times demonstrating disregard for tenants and their quality of life.
“Tenants who had moved into Lions Place a year or two prior to the sale felt particularly betrayed as they believed the sale was being brokered behind the scenes for months or years before tenants were notified, meanwhile they had moved in under what turned out to be a false pretence of non-profit seniors-oriented housing.”
Failure to find alternatives
The report also cites a lack of due diligence by LHC to find alternatives to the sale, such as other ways to bring in revenue, partnering with other organizations, or finding acceptable a non-profit buyer.
That can also be viewed as an abuse of power and trust, the report says.
“Sadly, Lions Place is kind of a poster child for a lot of concrete examples of what’s wrong,” said Simms, who says governments need to create stronger regulation around organizations like LHC when public money is involved.
“I’m a firm believer in non-profits, but there needs to be accountability and transparency and support measures,” he said, adding that needs to be done before LHC decided to sell its other two complexes.
“They’ve done it once. There’s nothing that’s stopping them to do it again.”
Among other things, including the call for an inquiry, the report recommends implementing legislation to prevent non-profit buildings from being sold to the private market.
Extending the moratorium on raising rents would also be welcomed, but the sale of the building to another non-profit would be the best outcome, it adds.
Establishing an independent seniors advocate in Manitoba, which the province has promised, is also key, according to the report.
It also wants the province to revisit legislation governing elder abuse, ensuring it covers organizational harms.