Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 23, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba II II The RW tax holiday is at SALISBURY HOUSE on Thursdays! No PST NoGST APPLIES AT ALL SALISBURY HOUSE FAMILY RESTAURANT LOCATIONS VALID FROM DECEMBER 19 2024 THROUGH FEBRUARY 13 2025 -THURSDAYS ONLY THURSDAY JANUARY 23, 2025 ● ASSOCIATE EDITOR, NEWS: STACEY THIDRICKSON 204-697-7292 ● CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM SECTION B CONNECT WITH WINNIPEG’S NO. 1 NEWS SOURCE ▼ CITY ● BUSINESS Manwin Hotel issued vacate order T HE owner of an infamous Main Street hotel says the city is con- tributing to homelessness by issuing a vacate order for dozens of tenants. The city has ordered 34 residents of the Manwin Hotel to evacuate amid multiple outstanding permit require- ments and compliance orders. “The building was as safe as it was in the summer,” Manwin owner Akim Kambamba said by phone Wednesday afternoon. “Now all of the sudden, the middle of winter, people are told to go and live by the river or in campsites? Is this really Canada?” Following a fire in a bathroom of the hotel last month, the city’s Planning, Property & Development Department ordered tenants to vacate the premis- es no later than Jan. 17. Kambamba filed an appeal to the order, which will be heard Feb. 10. The city said it will not enforce the vacancy order until the appeal hear- ing but some tenants say they won’t leave no matter what the outcome is. “I’m staying put,” said Mark Head, who has lived at the hotel at 655 Main St. since last February following a tenancy at the nearby Sutherland Ho- tel, which was destroyed by fire last week. Head was among fewer than 10 residents left in the building Wednes- day. “Every one of these rooms has somebody’s life in there and it be- comes a support network for people,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere.” The hallways of the hotel were lined with clear garbage bags filled with personal items and drywall scraps Wednesday afternoon. Graffiti marked hallway doors and walls and some rooms had no doors on their hin- ges. Kambamba said he was doing reno- vations to the building when he was served the order, which involved a fire escape that needed repairs and upgrades. “This order has been outstand- ing for a while and it takes time and money,” Kambamba said. “It’s an on- going process and I’m trying … but it’s too cold to be doing this.” The average temperature in Winni- peg for January so far has been -21 C, with some days dipping below -29 C, Environment Canada data shows. A provincial spokesperson said Manitoba public health inspectors visited the property on Dec. 30, with representatives from other city de- partments. At the time, basic amen- ities such as toilets, sinks, showers and hot and cold running water were operational, the spokesperson said. In February 2021, the province tem- porarily shut the hotel down due to the building having no heat or water. The 34-room hotel, built in 1882, has been the subject of violence, drug use and homicides in recent years and agencies and advocates have called for its closure. St. Boniface Street Links executive director Marion Willis was at the ho- tel Wednesday speaking with tenants and Kambamba about the building’s conditions. “I’m not suggesting for one minute the Manwin isn’t the hellhole that it is. However, nothing is different today than in spring, summer and the fall,” she said. “The Manwin does need to be shut down, but not in the middle of winter. It’s not about shutting it down and creating a crisis for people.” ‘I’m staying put,’ defiant tenant says amid fears some may become homeless NICOLE BUFFIE MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS The hallways of the Manwin Hotel were lined with clear garbage bags filled with personal items and drywall scraps on Wednesday afternoon. Rollins resignation shines light on councillors’ concerns MAYOR Scott Gillingham disputes the claim, made by a councillor who quit a key committee position, that bureau- crats leave politicians in the dark about details on key issues. “I certainly don’t see it that way,” the mayor said one day after Sherri Rollins quit as chair of the property develop- ment committee, which gave her a seat on executive policy committee, con- sidered the mayor’s inner circle. “There’s not a blockage between the politicians on this side of the courtyard and the members of our public ser- vice,” he said. “Our councillors, EPC members for sure, have access to our (chief administrative officer), our dir- ectors, to get the information that they require.” Rollins, who has represented Fort Rouge—East Fort Garry since 2018, wrote a short letter to the mayor Tues- day advising him of her resignation. She told reporters she was compelled to resign because of repeated instances related to the withholding of informa- tion by the administration, along with her frustration with delays over hiring a police chief and city chief administra- tive officer. On Wednesday, Rollins said she had no comment. Coun. John Orlikow said he also has concerns about information being kept from councillors and he’s “not that in- terested” in returning to EPC. “Some of the concerns councillor Rollins pointed out, I share. … EPC needs to do some changing in their modelling before I’d be willing to go back on,” he said. Orlikow stepped down from the com- mittee just before going on a three- month medical leave in 2023, and did not return. There’s a lack of support for council- lors who are “maybe not aligned with the mayor,” Orlikow said. “The information flow is really har- boured by a few people, I don’t believe even (by) EPC anymore, and the fact that the leadership to help other coun- cillors is just not there.” Coun. Brian Mayes told reporters this month he was forced to file a free- dom of information request for a prog- ress report on the federal Housing Ac- celerator Fund, suggesting it had been unfairly withheld from councillors who were expected to vote on it. Mayes was booted from the executive policy committee in July after being on the committee under three different mayors over 11 years. On Wednesday, he said Rollins’s de- cision to quit indicates he isn’t alone in his frustrations. “This isn’t just me. I’ve come to real- ize that there’s some bigger issues here with communication and with the way this place is operating,” he said. “It’s a big step for Sherri. Things would have to get pretty bad to resign, because I think everybody here wants to be on EPC, you want some more in- fluence, better access to decision-mak- ing. To give that up, that’s pretty ser- ious.” As the mayor mulls Rollins’s replace- ment, he must abide by the requirement that at least one property and develop- ment committee member must come from a downtown ward, although it does not need to be the chair. Not one of the remaining committee members represents downtown. MALAK ABAS ● ROLLINS, CONTINUED ON B2 MALAK ABAS / FREE PRESS FILES Coun. Sherri Rollins resigned from the property development committee Tuesday. ● MANWIN, CONTINUED ON B2 Safety partnership eyes library space THE Downtown Community Safety Partnership hopes to set up in the shut- tered community connections space at Millennium Library to help marginal- ized people. The city’s 2025 preliminary budget cut funding for community connec- tions, which had helped connect people to social services, triggering its Dec. 31 closure. The partnership has proposed to make use of the space once. “We would staff or position a couple of our (community outreach advocacy resource) workers as best we can within that space and they can meet and con- nect with community and provide those social navigation services, similar to, I believe, what was in there before,” said executive director Greg Burnett. Council’s executive policy commit- tee suspended its rules to hear a late, unscheduled presentation of the idea Wednesday afternoon, during a meet- ing slated to hear budget delegations. Several delegates pushed councillors to reinstate the community connections space in its previous format, which was staffed by a combination of library em- ployees and community safety hosts. Resuming that service would cost about $628,000 per year. If the DCSP moved into the space, it would continue helping folks in need connect with supports for housing, ad- dictions treatment and mental health and more, said Burnett. “This provides us just another avenue to work with the community,” he said. The city budget proposes to provide $420,000 to DCSP this year. Mayor Scott Gillingham said the proposal to have DCSP take over the library space wouldn’t require additional city fund- ing. If the plan is approved, DCSP says its team would likely begin working in the space from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday, which could be expanded as needed. Burnett expects the project would last a year, though a trial period from April 1 to May 31, 2025, would help determine the full schedule. He said staff could also drive people to shelters or hospitals and to get non-emergency medical help, while helping to address safety concerns. Burnett noted DCSP already works at Millennium Library often, with 472 “interactions” at the site in 2024, includ- ing answering calls for help, regular patrols and check-ins. JOYANNE PURSAGA ● LIBRARY, CONTINUED ON B2 ;