For almost a year, Ed Artola tried to sell his one-storey rental bungalow in the 500-block of Atlantic Avenue before finally giving up.
He didn’t receive a single offer, and he’s blaming a vacant home next door.
“There are reports of drug usage (from people who break in) — which isn’t a surprise — property damage to my property, breaking into my property, not being able to sell my property. It creates a stigma for the neighbourhood,” said Artola.
NIC ADAM / FREE PRESS
Ed Artola, pictured outside his property Wednesday, is a Winnipeg landlord who blames a vacant house next door for preventing him from being able to sell a home he owns and rents out on Atlantic Avenue.
White boards covered the empty home’s windows and doors Wednesday, while its tall grass nearly reached the height of a fence that divides the two lots.
Artola said the empty home sometimes attracts squatters and he fears it could be set on fire, due to the increased arson risk facing vacant and derelict structures.
In July 2023, he listed his property for sale, aiming to move on from being a landlord. When it became clear he wouldn’t be able to sell it, he opted to find a new tenant in June.
“There were people I was told who wanted to buy the property but… this property next door was scaring them off,” he said.
While sales are sizzling in some segments of Winnipeg’s housing market, Artola said dropping the home’s sale price from $180,000 to $150,000 — the price he paid for it in 2021 — also failed to attract a buyer.
He said city bylaw officers helped ensure the house next door is securely boarded up, though he would ideally like to see it torn down and replaced.
“I’d love the city to (do) more…. It’s so slow to get answers, it’s slow for them to take repossession of these properties,” he said.
“I know they should take more accountability, but it might be a financial thing. Maybe they don’t have money to knock down all these properties that are just sitting there.”
He’s considering legal action against the vacant home’s owner.
City spokesman Kalen Qually confirmed that property has been “under enforcement as a vacant building” since December 2023, though Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service has not been there because of fires or fire inspections during that time.
“The city does receive complaints about vacant properties through 311, most often about suspected vacant properties, but we’re not able to quantify how many may have been about home sales related to vacant properties,” Qually told the Free Press in an email.
He noted the city approved a request to split the vacant property on Atlantic into two single-family lots in December 2022, which indicates it could be redeveloped in the future.
Realtor Frank Zappia, of Zappia Group Realty, said he has also faced challenges in selling homes next to vacant structures.
“It basically wipes out (the chance of) a family moving there because of the risk of fire next door…. It becomes a fire hazard, arson, all sorts of stuff can happen,” said Zappia.
That challenge can lead owners to drop prices or keep homes to rent them out, preventing permanent residents from moving in, he said, noting vacant homes grew more common after the pandemic.
“Ideally, you need the city to do something about them… and not just let them sit there. The longer you let them (sit there), the more dangerous it becomes,” said Zappia.
As of last month, the city was monitoring 695 properties through its vacant buildings bylaw.
Coun. Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre) said she’s received complaints from residents who have struggled to sell homes because of derelict properties nearby. Gilroy said the problem can be devastating for people who were banking on their homes to cover expenses after retiring.
“People maybe have invested in their properties for years, doing many upkeeps and when they do look at downsizing… if that’s their nest egg for their future and that’s what they were trying to live off of, it can be very, very difficult,” she said.
Gilroy noted the city has increased bylaw inspections, ramped up fines and enhanced requirements for boarding up vacant homes to try to tackle the problem.
Last month, city council also gave Winnipeg’s chief administrative officer the power to approve land-acquisition programs for vacant and dilapidated properties, with a goal to speed up the transfer of lots to the city from owners who no longer want them.
“I think it will be, hopefully, a positive step,” Gilroy said. “The city is going to have to figure out how we’re going to deal with this financially.… If the city becomes the owner (of these homes), now the onus will be on us.”
Gilroy said she hopes the municipal government will also seek provincial and federal government support to fund grants to help improve properties.
She urged Winnipeggers who live near vacant and derelict homes to consistently report concerns to 311, emphasizing that data is key to identifying where help is needed most.
joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca
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Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter
Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.
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