An inner-city activist is accusing Manitoba Housing of taking too long to fill vacancies.
Sel Burrows, president of the Point Douglas Seniors Association and a spokesman for the North Point Douglas Residents Association, said there are more than a dozen vacancies alone at the Manitoba Housing highrise at 817 Main St.
As well, Burrows said he knows of four three-bedroom houses in the North Point Douglas neighbourhood that have been vacant for more than three months and a four-bedroom home empty for two years.
Burrows said when he has brought up the issue with the province, he has been told he is wrong.
"I can show you the vacant units," he said on Friday.
"It's just ridiculous. They have these excuses. Yes, they have a fairly high turnover rate, but it takes them months to get people back in.
"My friends in the private sector bring vacant units back to availability in five days -- Manitoba Housing is very lucky if they get a vacant unit available within two months."
Darrell Jones, chief executive officer of Manitoba Housing, said the provincial organization does have a four per cent vacancy rate in Winnipeg, but he said the reasons are not that simple.
"It's a combination of some units not having a strong demand and the type of unit or the location," he said.
"People have preferred locations because of the proximity to employment. Others become comfortable in a neighbourhood and want to stay there."
Manitoba Housing, the province's largest landlord, has 45,000 units across the province, with 7,700 it directly manages in the city.
Jones said the vacancies at 817 Main St., which he said is actually about 10 units, are all studio apartments.
"Studios have become less and less popular through the years," he said, noting it was recently announced a housing block on Pacific Avenue was being converted from having a number of studio units to multi-bedroom suites.
Jones also said part of the turnaround delay in recent years is because the provincial government has been pumping in more money to renovate suites than it had for years.
But Jones said to address the delay for renovations and the painting of suites, the province has been hiring more personnel to its in-house resources.
"We're moving more and more in that direction," he said.
"We feel we can do a certain blend with in-house resources and contract people."
Meanwhile, the province announced Friday it has signed an agreement with the Sagkeeng First Nation to have Sagkeeng take over property management for the complexes at 2339 Pembina Hwy. and 25 Gaylene Pl.
The two projects consist of 15 one-bedroom units, 51 two-bedroom, 31 three-bedroom, five four-bedroom, and two five-bedroom units.
"This is a proud day for the people of Sagkeeng," Chief Donavan Fontaine said in a statement.
"With this partnership, we can begin to immediately provide affordable housing to our people, particularly those who have come to Winnipeg to complete higher education at the nearby University of Manitoba."
kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 5, 2011 A3
