Two very different articles shared a common theme that I feel must be addressed, and quickly. In the article City in a growth spurt (June 17) it is stated that "Winnipeg desperately needs more multi-family housing to accommodate this growth ..." and further notes that "Winnipeg already has a housing crisis, as the residential vacancy rate now stands at less than one per cent." An article in a subsequent paper (Fire at vacant house no shock: neighbours, June 20) notes that the house destroyed by fire was a derelict eyesore for years, and the city does nothing to resolve the situation.
Here in North Point Douglas, we have a serious housing shortage, with no new housing or apartments in our future, as far as we know. I run the local rental housing registry and I've seen our list of rental property numbers fall from a high of nearly 30 units in October, 2008 to half a dozen now, some of which are single rooms in rooming houses, or substandard houses. At the same time, on nearly every block in our community there are houses sitting empty, when they could be rented. They're not all boarded up, they're just sitting there, empty. The owner pays the taxes and that's the end of it. These houses will sit there until they fall down or are burned down. We see it all the time. I've heard of one property owner who has four empty houses in our community and he refuses to sell them or do anything else with them. In a housing crisis such as we are facing, this is nothing short of criminal. Equally criminal are the property owners who own many homes in our area and won't maintain or repair them, so their tenants are forced to live in extremely poor conditions.
I would like to see the city take action on both fronts. Talk to the owners of empty houses to find out why they are empty. If it is that the owner can't afford to upgrade the house to acceptable standards, there should be assistance for them to do so. The owner should be forced to rent the house, live in it, or sell it, so that there will be homes for people who need them. The city also urgently needs to enforce existing housing standards so that slum landlords who refuse to improve their rental units face hefty fines up to and including the loss of the property.
The economic spin-offs of ensuring that repairs and renovations are done, are obvious. It's a win/win situation.
How about it, Mr. Mayor?
Heather Geddie
Winnipeg
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 30, 2009 A11