Winnipeg’s inner city is plagued with hundreds of derelict buildings and demolition sites their owners can’t or won’t clean up.
Despite the threat they pose the city is reluctant to do the job itself.
A recent City of Winnipeg report says it would cost too much to take over the cleanup.
Residents and councillors, on the other hand, say the city should roll up its sleeves and remove post-demolition rubble if the owner hasn’t already done so.
In Winnipeg, the owners of vacant buildings that have been demolished or that are subject to demolition are responsible for cleaning up the mess.
If they don’t comply, the city can take on the demolition and remediation and the cost is added to the owners’ property tax bill.
The report says it wouldn’t be worth it to invest in the equipment and staff needed for the city to do the cleanups.
The main reason for the delay in cleaning up these properties is the seasonality of the work, says the report.
Because most properties are full of asbestos, they require “wet remediation” before they are removed.
Manitoba’s Workplace Safety and Health Act requires the rubble to be misted to prevent cancer-causing asbestos particulates from circulating.
Because of the province’s cold winters, the wet-work can be done only in the few months from late spring until the end of fall.
The report says since the work is highly specialized and seasonal in nature, it would not be “economically feasible” for the city to invest hundreds of thousands dollars in equipment and increase staff for only periodic use.
“The pre-qualification of several contractors means the city has ready access to many resources to conduct this work,” the report says.
Coun. Cindy Gilroy, who represents the west-central Daniel McIntyre ward, says the report is “insufficient,” and that Winnipeg needs to find ways to expedite rubble cleanup.
Gilroy says she’d like to see a detailed breakdown of the costs of the different removal methods the city has at its disposal.
For example, she says, there might be a way for the city to pay for the cost of removing a demolished or derelict property up-front from its tipping fees (fees paid by to dispose of waste in a landfill).
Because it is mostly the inner city that is bedeviled with the problem, it appears the city is ignoring those communities, she says.
Gilroy says there are about 800 vacant buildings and demolition sites, many of which are located in her Daniel McIntyre ward.
Some of these abandoned buildings and what is left of them catch fire, and there have been more fires recently.
Between January and November 2023 there were 125 fires in vacant buildings, most of them caused by homeless people looking for shelter and warmth.
“Winnipeg has a big stock of old housing, some of which has become or is in danger of becoming derelict,” says Gilroy. “When it does become derelict, it needs to be torn down and hauled off immediately, but that doesn’t always happen.”
Gilroy says the city has been making an effort to improve the situation. It has been working with homeowners to streamline the process to apply for and receive demolition permits.
The city also wants to find out if it can clean up rubble immediately after a building has been destroyed by fire and met the wrecking ball.
The fire department is already allowed to carry out emergency demolitions of properties left structurally unsound by fire.
The city wants to find out if provincial rules can be changed to let crews clear the lots of all debris at the same time.
Not far from Gilroy’s ward, Coun. Ross Eadie says there are “a heck of a lot of vacant properties and demolition sites” in his north end Mynarski ward.
“There are almost 300 vacant and derelict buildings in Mynarski that need to be either refurbished so that people can live in them, or demolished and the wreckage carried away,” says Eadie.
He says the city also needs to offer better carrots so that owners will have the financial incentive to restore their dilapidated buildings.
“Rehabilitated buildings are worth more, so the city will get back more in property taxes,” says Eadie.
Eadie and Gilroy are calling for government to put more money into addressing the problem.
They want to see a tri-level agreement between Winnipeg, Manitoba and the federal government to remove demolished and derelict buildings and rehabilitate those that can be saved.
“If they’re fixed up and made livable again, they buildings could add to the housing stock the city needs,” says Eadie.
I would like the mayor to see some of these ideas as feasible. Specifically; owners should be given companies and addresses of these companies and their phone number so that they can get an investigation as to who and how they can get money to restore their home. Each case is individual. My daughter lives in a home operated by westminister housing; this house was a house that was on fire, and the owner asked the engineers I’m guessing to only take down the portion of the house that was destroyed. The rest he shored up . It is now rented out to 3 or 4 families, because it was a 3 story , so now her rent is just over $1000.00/month, I’m guessing the other places are charged the same. so that is generating $2000.00 to $4000.00 per month. Ross Eadie says this will generate more tax dollars. Yes a demolition and a rebuild will also generate tax dollars – there is still the cost of the demolition. So if the government acted like westminister housing some homes could be saved. Of course the fire department should be able to tell which homes can be saved right from the get go. They are the first responders to the life of the home. I am happy the fire department can demolish when necessary. Getting back to abandoned — work with the owners find out what bare minimum needed to be done and find out how much money the landlord can afford. It is possible however that some homeowners need to sell their abandoned property. It is not like homeowners end up in jail , well maybe in which case there should be a plan for someone to take care of the home when they are jail. Maybe the city has the right to rent out these home when a person is in jail. We have to find out why each home is abandoned. Some homes have been on fire 3 times WHY WHY WHY langside street near private school had a home the owner had wiring issues and needed a new roof — He put on a new roof and was set to next phase of getting assessed to see if he could rent out again and he had his father stay there so it was not abandoned and go figure the house still caught fire. — stupid house — perfect example the owner did not have enough to do both repairs at the same time. And compliance people can stop putting houses in jeapardy of getting broken into apparently by their own renegade staff . I lost severeley on a house of mine; because renegade guy broke the living room window and the front door window after compliance guy opened window for air. The home was only semi abandoned and the neighbours have big mouths — don’t report people help people. (sorry my spell check isn’t working) As for the resting phase with asbestos I did not know that. So yes the government should not expand the months to do this but increase the number of people to do the clean up during the months available according by the asbestos needs met.