The Manwin hotel on Winnipeg's Main Street strip. Photo: Jared Delorme/APTN News
Barb Guimond has long sounded the alarm about the appalling living conditions inside Winnipeg’s decrepit Manwin Hotel.
The SRO (single room occupancy) residential hotel on the city’s Main Street strip is home to 34 vulnerable people – many of whom are Indigenous, says Guimond, a member of Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba.
“They deserve better,” she said Thursday. “It’s dangerous, it’s not habitable.
“They don’t even have heat in there.”
The lack of heating may have contributed to a fire in the building at 655 Main St. on Dec. 29, where firefighters responded and took note of an unsafe fire escape. The City of Winnipeg issued an eviction order for the tenants soon after.
David Driedger, a spokesperson for the city, said the order was “a necessary step to encourage the property owner to comply with multiple outstanding permit requirements and compliance orders on the building.
“The owner [Akim Kambamba] has filed an appeal of the Order to Vacate,” Driedger added in an emailed statement to APTN News, “which will be heard February 10.”
Kambamba, who did not respond to a request for comment from APTN, has repeatedly promised to make repairs to the aging building. But told local media this week he doesn’t have the funds to do the work.
“It’s not 100 per cent perfect but people can live here,” he said in an interview with Global News. “And the city should be reasonable to allow, not to kick people out in -30 degree weather.”
The Manwin has become housing for homeless people in Winnipeg, most of whom are First Nations, according to a recent survey. It’s located near the city’s historic Exchange District, and sits between the Main Street Project homeless shelter and a soup kitchen. Three more homeless shelters are within walking distance.
Guimond has organized at least two protests in front of the hotel calling for it to be shut down.
She is worred about the safety of homeless Indigenous women and girls, whom she alleges are lured into the hotel by the promise of cheap drugs and alcohol and victimized sexually.
“It’s dangerous for our women and youth. I’ve been saying this over and over again,” Guimond said.
The city has been trying to get the Manwin up to code for years.
Want to know why First Nations people are over-represented when it comes to homelessness in Winnipeg? Listen to the APTN News podcast Our Relatives, which features an interview with Barb Guimond outside the Manwin Hotel.
Driedger noted inspectors have issued multiple compliance orders over the years related to building safety and proper permitting. However, he wouldn’t release further information citing the upcoming appeal hearing.
A person who is not authorized to speak publicly feels the tenants are not safe.
“After the fire there was a flood in there,” the person said. “When I went in there [at] the main entrance it was flooding from the second floor. My understanding from one of the community members is that a pipe burst.
“The windows facing the front – even the ones that aren’t broken – are pure frost,” the worker added. “You can’t see in them. It’s just frosted over completely, and they have people in there living like animals because the landlord (allegedly) does not want to pay the money to fix the building.”
Last January, there was a homicide in the building. Six months before that another person was killed inside.
The rooms are small and the hallways are dark. The floors are uneven and the communal bathroom stalls are without doors.
The Manitoba social assistance program pays the tenants’ accommodation of approximately $650 per month directly to the owner/landlord.
The Manwin, also known as the National, was built in 1882 as a residential hotel for railway workers and labourers.
A history of the building shows it has been the site of violent crime long before its present owner took charge.
This is not the first time the city has ordered an eviction during the frigid Manitoba winter. In 2021, the hotel was closed for lack of heat by provincial health inspectors and the owner hit with heavy fines.
Some are condemning the city for again ordering tenants out into the cold, but social agencies have banded together to find them suitable living spaces, says the person not authorized to speak publicly.
“I would rather sleep outside than in there,” the person noted.
Meanwhile, both the city and Manitoba government recently announced a plan to tackle chronic homelessness in Winnipeg. The first step, they said, is to dismantle homeless encampments and relocate the residents into appropriate housing.
