Squires accused of placating Lions Place residents with ‘Band-Aid solution’

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This article was published 28/11/2022 (661 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Families Minister Rochelle Squires is getting some unsolicited advice from the charitable organization that operates — and has tentatively sold — Lions Place seniors complex.

Don’t make promises you may not be able to keep.

“Saving the day at Lions Place is a Band-Aid solution,” Lions Housing Centres executive director Gilles Verrier said.

“You can placate some residents today and what does that serve? What do you do for an encore in three, five and 10 years from now?”

Squires, whose portfolio includes housing, vowed last week that fearful tenants of the 287-unit building at 610 Portage Ave. — Manitoba’s largest non-profit seniors housing co-op — will not face rent increases if and when the building changes hands.

Verrier, who has defended the charity’s decision on the basis that it can no longer afford the building’s upkeep, suggested the minister should stay in her lane.

“For Squires to make an absurd, possibly illegal, comment about no rent increases for Lions Place serves only to mislead the residents and sets a precedent for no rent increases with all other facility owners,” he said.

Last Friday, management sent a letter informing tenants that a so-far unnamed Alberta-based company had placed a deposit on the building and was finalizing the terms of a deal that could close in January.

Nobody is being forced out, Verrier said, but added the rent is too low, expenses are too high and maintaining the building is no-longer sustainable

“The amenities in Lions Place go way beyond many other facilities with higher rent and fewer benefits,” he said, pointing to free pest control, 24/7 security and numerous recreational and residential services provided within the building.

“To say they want low rental housing is not knowing they’ve benefited from low rental housing for years on the goodwill of the Lions Housing Centres.”

Nevertheless, tenants are feeling betrayed.

“(Residents) know the Lions have a history of 100 years of service in Winnipeg. Now they seem to be turning to money instead of to a level of service,” said Gerald Brown, chair of Lions Place seniors action committee. “We don’t know where… people are going to go if, for some reason, they lose their housing.”

News that Lions was exploring the sale broke in July, leaving residents panicking about the future and prospective rent hikes many can’t afford.

Brown, who has lived in the building for eight years, formed a committee with other residents to advocate against the sale. They are asking the province to intervene, calling for an immediate five-year rent freeze and legislation limiting the sale of non-profit housing across the province.

Information about what the Alberta firm plans to do with the building were not included in Friday’s notice, he said.

“That’s as many details as we got,” Brown said. “We don’t know who the buyer is, we don’t know what their credibility is. Have they ever worked with seniors before?… that information has not been made available.”

In a statement emailed to the Free Press on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the province reaffirmed the government is committed to ensuring there will be no rent increases. There was no mention of whether it would consider tax freezes at Lions Place or future legislation surrounding non-profit housing sales.

It also did not say whether it had spoken directly to Verrier or anyone else connected to Lions Housing Centres.

“We certainly have done some outreach and are working diligently behind the scenes,” the spokesperson wrote.

Tom Simms, whose mother lives in the building, criticized both the Lions and the provincial government, saying neither had done enough to solve the building’s financial woes.

Simms pointed to a Manitoba Housing subsidy program that formerly supported Lions Place. It expired in 2018 and was not replaced with a new agreement. If the province is serious about supporting seniors, it needs to get back to the table and Lions Place should hold off on selling the complex, he said.

“It’s a moment of truth for this provincial government. Are they with the suits and the developers, or do they have the backs of seniors and non-profit housing organizations? We believe actions speak louder than words,” he said.

—with files from Carol Sanders

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca