Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 16, 2013, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE B1 CITY & BUSINESS CITY EDITOR: SHANE MINKIN 204- 697- 7292 city. desk@ freepress. mb. ca I winnipegfreepress. com TUESDAY, JULY 16, 2013 B 1 W INNIPEG lawyer Richard Fulham owns what could be the biggest rooming house in Winnipeg. At a whopping 27 rooms, the Furby Street house dwarfs many apartment blocks in West Broadway. For local housing activists, it's a niggling worry that Fulham might one day flip the house, putting two dozen people on the street. A decade ago, Fulham owned 11 rooming houses in West Broadway but slowly sold some as part of the gentrification that's now begun in the neighbourhood and because stagnant welfare rates can make running a rooming house a losing proposition. Fulham originally planned to convert the Furby Street house into 12 bachelor units, and he still gets offers to buy the property. He is not selling. " I was going to convert them all, but there's such a need for housing," said Fulham, who also owns two smaller rooming houses nearby. " Where would these people go?" Instead, he is working on upgrading the Furby house and should have it where he wants it in a year. Rooming- house owners are a varied bunch. Many are slum landlords, so negligent it's hard even for seasoned fire inspectors to track them down. Others are neighbourhood agencies looking to fight poverty by running decent suites. Still others see rooming houses as the affordable way to get into the real estate game, unprepared for the social work involved and frustrated by government regulations and programs that routinely fail rooming houses and their residents. If nearby Spence neighbourhood is any barometer, there is no one big, bad rooming- house owner in Winnipeg. An analysis of the ownership of 117 rooming houses in Spence - building on data collected by the University of Winnipeg's Institute of Urban Studies - suggests three- quarters of landlords own only one or two properties. And virtually none is owned by out- of- towners, as once rumoured. It can be difficult to reach rooming- house owners, even ones with good reputations. One couple, Richard and Susan Kathler, appears to own nine rooming houses in Spence but did not return calls for comment. Some of the challenges rooming- house landlords face include finding a decent caretaker with the right combination of patience and power to enforce house rules, and properly vetting tenants so the bad seeds don't take root. It's also a constant battle against bedbugs, as tenants may be transient or have guests that bring in unwanted insects. Fulham and other owners say coping with landlord- tenant rules that are simply not designed for the realities of a rooming house is another problem. Steve Tait, who owns a 15- room house up the street from Fulham's, says the sprinkling of government programs meant to help rooming houses function simply don't work at street level. It can be remarkably hard to evict a problem tenant. Most need to be waited out until they disappear, such as the drug dealer who recently set up shop on the main floor of Tait's house. The dealer finally left to work up north in a fishing lodge and the new tenant in the room has posted a sign on her door alerting the dealer's old customers that the cops are on speed- dial. That sign is also posted outside on the back window, which the dealer used as a drug drive- thru. For Tait, the province's much lauded Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act has also failed three times to help him get rid of troublemaking tenants, and navigating the province's renovationgrant program wasn't much easier. He is one of just three rooming- house owners in six years to win cash as part of the Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program, a process he said took 18 months, 10 meetings and a call to the housing minister. In Spence, housing advocates do a polite eye- roll at the 40- odd- page application form. For all the hassles of owning a rooming house, Fulham chafes at the demonization of his tenants, many of whom are excellent, including a gentleman who has lived in Fulham's Langside Street rooming house for years. " I've learned that everyone has a little story. They're not all problematic," said Fulham. " Just because people are in these units doesn't mean they're all transient. They're just poor." maryagnes. welch@ freepress. mb. ca Rooming- house rundown How many are there? It's impossible to know. No one counts. About a decade ago, a study by the University of Winnipeg's Institute of Urban Studies pegged the total number of rooming houses in Winnipeg at about 1,000. There are 117 in the Spence neighbourhood alone, and roughly 75 in West Broadway. What's the rent? Between $ 350 and $ 425 a month. The basic welfare shelter rate is $ 285, which might get you a closet in the crappiest rooming house in Winnipeg. How big are the rooms? Just under 170 square feet, according to a new analysis of Spence neighbourhood rooming houses done by the IUS. That's a little bigger than a parking space. Why can't we just shut them down? Rooming houses are bottom- of- the- barrel housing for the poorest Winnipeggers, but if we shut them down or allow them to be renovated and flipped, thousands of people, perhaps as many as 6,000, would be homeless. It's too harsh to call rooming houses a necessary evil, but given Winnipeg's chronic and widespread poverty problem and its almost total lack of affordable housing, they are absolutely necessary. The trick is to make them less evil. CROWDED HOUSES TOMORROW: Rooming houses are fireprone, but inspections have dwindled. THURSDAY: You can't get a mortgage for a rooming house, and that's just one problem with the business. FRIDAY : Solutions. He puts tenants before profit Owner won't convert huge rooming house By Mary Agnes Welch ' I was going to convert them all, but there's such a need for housing. Where would these people go?' - rooming- house owner Richard Fulham, a lawyer F OR Winnipeg's top civil servant, 2012 was a difficult year: There was a water- park debacle at The Forks, a fire- paramedic station construction scandal and sudden closures of both the Civic Centre Parkade and Sherbrook Pool. But last year did offer a silver lining for chief administrative officer Phil Sheegl, who took home $ 241,589 in salary and benefits in 2012, more than any other City of Winnipeg employee, including elected officials and other public servants. The city's annual compensation disclosure, published earlier this month, lists the compensation for 5,736 city employees who took home $ 50,000 or more in 2012 in the form of salary, overtime, sick pay, retirement pay or other benefits. The CAO, who's responsible for the entire public service, typically leads the list, although in some years, departed staff - who may receive lumpsum payments for previously unclaimed benefits - have the potential to out- earn the CAO. In 2012, the biggest departure package went to former Winnipeg Transit planner Bill Menzies, who devoted much of his career to the construction of the Southwest Transitway. Menzies took home $ 217,179 last year, making him the thirdhighest- paid city employee after Sheegl and a Winnipeg Fire- Paramedic Service communications operator named Carl Schimnowski, who earned $ 227,098. The details of Schimnowski's compensation - or that of any other city employee - can not be discussed due to privacy reasons, said city communications manager Steve West, who took home $ 113,751 last year, according to the report. The highest- paid elected official, Mayor Sam Katz, took home $ 171,017, while councillors earned between $ 116,184 and $ 84,514, depending on their committee duties. City department directors earned between $ 180,265 and $ 87,644, depending on their experience and the nature of their department. The highest- paid department director was Winnipeg Fire- Paramedic Chief Reid Douglas, who edged out chief financial officer Mike Ruta by a mere $ 87. Salaries for senior managers with the city remain below those enjoyed by managers in the private sector or other levels of government, said city council finance chairman Russ Wyatt ( Transcona). " They tell me we're losing people, although I don't know if that's true," Wyatt said. " On a percapita basis, our costs are quite low compared to other cities in Canada." bartley. kives@ freepress. mb. ca Top earners Selected entries from the City of Winnipeg's 2012 compensation disclosure: Politicians/ political staff Sam Katz , mayor: $ 171,017 Bonnie Staples- Lyon , Katz's chief of staff: $ 124,701 City councillors: $ 116,184 to $ 84,514 Brad Salyn, Katz's policy director: $ 90,477 Senior staff Phil Sheegl , chief administrative officer: $ 241,589 Deepak Joshi , chief operating officer: $ 189,601 Reid Douglas , fire- paramedic chief: $ 180,265 Mike Ruta , chief financial officer: $ 180,178 Dave Wardrop , transit diretor: $ 173,820 Richard Kachur , city clerk: $ 164,250 Diane Sacher , water and waste director: $ 163,336 Clive Wightman , community services director: $ 162,706 Barry Thorgrimson , planning, property and development director: $ 160,373 Linda Burch , corporate support services director: $ 157,069 Brad Sacher , public works director: $ 155,371 Devon Clunis , police chief: $ 155,262 Brian Whiteside , city auditor: $ 137,163 Michael Jack , city solicitor: $ 132,596 Herbert Hajer , fleet management COO: $ 129,126 Mel Chambers , city assessor: $ 111,648 Randy Topolniski , parking authority COO: $ 104,906 Alan Shane , golf services COO: $ 97,062 Leland Gordon , animal services COO: $ 87,644 Familiar faces Ken Boyd , streets maintenance manager: $ 123,758 Steve West , communications manager: $ 113,751 Taz Stuart , city entomologist: $ 100,015 Randy Hull , emergency preparedness co- ordinator: $ 96,467 Kenny Boyce , film and special- events manager: $ 96,467 Jason Michalyshen , police constable and spokesman: $ 94,171 Departed staff Bill Menzies , former transit planner: $ 217,179 Art Stannard , former deputy police chief: $ 201,463 Keith McCaskill , former police chief: $ 193,173 Len Strijack , former city solicitor: $ 157,658 Nelson Karpa , former city assessor: $ 141,299 Who has the fattest wallet? City administrators', councillors' salaries revealed By Bartley Kives Sam Katz Phil Sheegl TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES The closure of Sherbrook Pool was just one of the problems city chief administrative officer Phil Sheegl faced last year. He was paid $ 241,589 in salary and benefits for his trouble. JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Landlord Steve Tait views a warning a new tenant posted on the rear window of her room that police will be called if customers of a drug dealer who used to live there drop around. It was formerly a drive- thru window for the dealer's clientele. JESSICA BURTNICK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS At 27 units, this Furby Street rooming house could be the city's biggest. B_ 01_ Jul- 16- 13_ FP_ 01. indd B1 7/ 15/ 13 11: 59: 23 PM ;