City orders tenants to vacate multi-storey apartment on Portage

Residents of a five-storey apartment building on Portage Avenue scrambled to pack up their possessions and move out as they tried to make sense of a City of Winnipeg order to immediately vacate the building after an engineering inspection deemed it unsafe.

“We’ve just been looking at stuff on our phones trying to figure out where we’re going to live because this could be permanent,” said 24-year-old Kayla Dussome, fighting back tears.

The municipal government said Thursday evening that residents of Birchwood Terrace, at 2440 Portage Ave., had been told to “immediately vacate the building under the Winnipeg Building By-law and the Emergency Management By-law due to its unsafe condition.”

Dussome, who has four-year-old twins, said she’s received little information from officials as to what to do next.

She had sent her mother to get a U-Haul truck to move her belongings out of the building before the 8 a.m. deadline.

Tenant Carol Lynch, who has called Birchwood Terrace home for 10 years, heard about the evacuation notice from a neighbour who was alerting everyone on the first floor of the building.

“Where the hell should I go next? I have no idea what I’m going to do,” Lynch said outside her suite.

In a news release, the city said it was recently notified that a third-party inspection had found severe deterioration of parts of the structure.

The property owner was informed about the requirements as per the bylaws to immediately vacate and cease any occupancy of the property, prohibit entry to the property until it is determined to be safe by the city, ensure 24/7 monitoring of the property and immediately advise the city of any change in the structural stability of the property.

The city said it expects to issue more orders to the owner in regards to actions that must be taken to address the unsafe conditions.

Henry Borger, one of the owners, said structural engineers found corrosion on “several” beams in the building’s parkade leading to the emergency order.

“This is a major emergency event,” Borger said outside the building Thursday evening.

Tenants will receive their lease deposit and May rent will be refunded to cover living expenses while repairs are done. Borger couldn’t provide a timeline of when, or if, tenants could return to their suites.

“We are asking the residents to take advantage of this time to call their friends, call their family… to make arrangements for where they can go,” the owner said. “This is where the community needs to step up.”

Dozens of cars lined Portage Avenue and the surrounding side streets while tenants streamed out of the main entrance with kennels, cat carriers and suitcases.

Tenants dashed through the hallways, with phones in hand, as they tried to figure out where to go. Neighbours asked each other for information.

“What am I supposed to do? Go live on the street?” One tenant could be heard saying into a phone.

Police and security guards were on site answering questions and assisting tenants as they moved items out of the building.

A reception centre was to be set up to help residents find temporary accommodation and learn about resources and supports, the city’s news release said.

It’s expected to take months to conduct repairs and inspections, the city said.

In addition, officials were to advise residents of neighbouring homes, on Assiniboine Crescent, that they are on “evacuation watch” and should be ready to leave “if and when the structural condition of the apartment building necessitates it,” the city said.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca