GOLD: Winnipeg’s housing push steamrolling vulnerable residents

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Mayor Scott Gillingham and his cohorts on Winnipeg City Council have jumped all-in with the Justin Trudeau vision of housing, housing everywhere, aided by a $122M federal pot of money that critics characterized as a “political bribe.”

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To get their hands on the dough, council began to sweep away approval processes that let affected residents raise concerns about building sizes, parking, snow storage, and compatibility with their street and neighbourhood. Mostly, people wanted to protect their quality of life.

In the big picture, Winnipeg politicians claim it’s the price of progress as they blather on about being a “world-class city”.

But they don’t pay that price. It’s impossible to find a councillor onside with Gillingham who lives within a football field of an infill project. You can bet the Mayor doesn’t.

Property owners, especially those nearing retirement, are right to fear the dreadnaught of virtually unfettered infill development.

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Even under the old rules, vulnerable seniors were bearing the impact of infill housing on their lives. It was starkly explained in an October email originally sent to NDP Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara.

A 29-year resident of Windermere Avenue in Fort Garry wrote, “My husband is in long-term care currently suffering with ALS at home in the second-floor bedroom. I am a senior and we need your assistance please as soon as possible.”

As ‘K’ explained, “Currently adjacent to our home, there is a demolition happening and it’s shaking our house all day and causing more health problems and damage to our home. My floor is lifting. I have cracks in my wall.”

She continued, “We cannot leave our home as my husband is on 24-hour breathing support with a special bed and chair and other machines to keep him alive.”

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The husband can’t talk, walk, eat or leave the upstairs bedroom anymore. Moving isn’t a realistic option.

‘K’ told Asagwara she tried to contact the owner “on many occasions but with no response.”

A Winnipeg builder had acquired it from another builder who bought the tear-down this spring after a lot split variance was approved. The first builder had texted them he wouldn’t start the project until 2026 to give them time to prepare, but the sale voided the promise.

She beseeched the minister to “Please assist us as soon as possible. I cannot live peaceably in my home and we are suffering tremendously here.”

Both are on disability and the husband is dying of Lou Gehrig’s Disease. But there was no response from Asagwara.

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They found out the infill project — two “skinny houses” overshadowing their home — was commencing when the pounding and ear-piercing noise started early one morning. A doctor’s note attested the trauma from the noise, mould and dust was sufficient to suggest the project be halted.

Their grief was compounded when the wooden fence the husband had built when they first moved in was destroyed by a contractor, claiming it was on the project property. No warning.

Conveniently, once it was gone, there was more room to cram the site’s protective fencing onto K’s lawn. Garbage like coffee cups and food containers got chucked onto their lawn too. Loud machines were operating far after the 9 p.m. limit.

I asked the City what the rules are to protect homeowners and it’s basically, let them eat cake.

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A spokesman told me “contractors are responsible for responding to questions and concerns from neighbours and fixing or compensating for necessary repairs.”

Only when I asked how that responsibility was enforced, did I learn the City takes no role to protect taxpayers and that homeowners would need to hire a lawyer and sue for damage to personal property.

A noise complaint could take up to 12 days to investigate.

“Where are our rights?” K asks. “We don’t have a right to protect our health and safety and property and to live peaceably in our home. But if I have shrubs over the sidewalk the city will fine me $300.”

In fact, on Oct. 28 a bylaw officer walked onto their lawn and started measuring their grass. But when project trucks on both sides of Windermere blocked the #29 bus, there wasn’t a bylaw officer in sight.

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“It’s a sad story,” River Heights-Fort Garry Councillor John Orlikow says. “I think it’s horrendous (not to) at least give them a heads up.”

With the new “as-a-right” process for malls and corridor housing and fourplexes, it’s going to get even worse. Without public input in the early stages, potentially contentious issues including those affecting privacy and quality of life don’t get a hearing.

“How about this, post up an application and get people’s comments? There’s none of that in the system at all. I’m quite dismayed with how this is being done.”

Noting a lot of these projects are by “newer builders who don’t understand the process,” Orlikow agrees a requirement to notify neighbours when construction starts should be built into application approvals.

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He thinks the city needs a manual outlining reasonable expectations for builders to anticipate and manage problems, and, he says, the city needs to “get the inspectors out” to the sites.

Orlikow also believes, “There should be a construction schedule posted that people can look at and plan so they don’t have to be around asbestos.”

Echoing Orlikow, Fort Garry MLA Mark Wasyliw is critical of the lax regulation of infill projects.

Homeowners in his constituency, “have complained about city by-laws not being followed, a lack of enforcement of city by-laws, an overall lack of knowledge regarding residents’ rights, and the feeling that no one is listening to residents’ voices when it comes to neighbourhood concerns.”

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“Many of my constituents have expressed their concerns to me regarding speculative housing companies and fly-by-night contractors who have descended on the neighbourhood and dramatically changed its character.”

In Wasyliw’s view, “The issues plaguing the Fort Garry community have outgrown the City of Winnipeg, and the Province needs to step in and protect residents from predatory land speculation and unscrupulous builders. Manitobans deserve to live in a community where they have a voice and where their concerns are addressed.”

Orlikow feels that’s the part of his job that Gillingham’s housing agenda has stripped away.

“I’m the representative of my community. I want to make sure everybody has some input. The process now is basically between the administration and the developers — where’s the neighbourhood?”

Around City Hall, he says, “Public input is called red tape, ‘it’s slowing down development’.”

But as Orlikow points out, “People aren’t red tape.”

— Marty Gold is a Winnipeg journalist. You can find more of his work at The Great Canadian Talk Show.

Have thoughts on what’s going on in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada or across the world? Send us a letter to the editor at wpgsun.letters@kleinmedia.ca

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