Source Winnipeg Free Press 

Residents of a dilapidated row of townhouses in the Lord Roberts neighbourhood are awaiting their fate as the owner of the property appeals the city’s orders to vacate the premises and clean the place up.
The property encompasses row houses on the 300 block of Arnold Avenue. It features a grey and cracked brick exterior, several shattered windows, deteriorated steps and damaged doors and locks.
In February, the city ordered the building be vacated, after inspectors identified serious safety issues, including a large section of the structure’s eastern wall which was “observed to be bowing outward” and has since begun to crumble, a city report says.

According to the report, inspectors also found overfull garbage bins, exposed electrical wires, interior renovations completed without permits, stairways that were rotten or slanted, potential water leaks and evidence that raw sewage may have leaked from one second-storey suite into the kitchen of a unit below.
“Based on our findings during the above-noted site inspection… (the property) poses a risk of harm to people, animals and neighbouring properties, and therefore is in an unsafe condition,” reads the February enforcement order.
The order gave a vacancy deadline of Feb. 23, which was later appealed by the property owner.
As of Tuesday, there were still people living inside.
“The first day we moved here it was so bad,” said one tenant, an immigrant from Ghana who asked not to be named.
On the day the woman and her husband moved in, she said their new suite was littered with soiled women’s clothing, garbage and used drug needles. She wanted to file a complaint with the provincial Residential Tenancies Branch, but was intimidated by the process.
Some of the front doors to the suites have no deadbolts and are being held shut by small brackets.
At least one other person, a senior, lives in a suite in the same row house. On Monday, they were both told they had one day to move out, the woman said.
The province has issued health hazard orders for a total of six units at 348, 350 and 352 Arnold Ave. in recent months. No public health orders have been issued for 346 Arnold Ave., where the senior and the woman from Ghana live, a provincial spokesperson said.
“This building, and its owner, have been by far the worst influence in our area,” said Justin Pauls, who lives beside the two-storey row house on Arnold.
The property owner, Alen Planincic, purchased the houses in 2016, tax records show.
He is preparing for an April 22 hearing with the city’s planning and property committee, in which he will be asked to defend his appeal application.

Planincic previously appealed a city order to improve safety conditions on the property more than a year ago. The committee denied that appeal.
The Free Press was unable to reach Planincic on Tuesday but a realtor who recently listed the property spoke on his behalf. Rahim Mirza denied allegations the building was unsafe or unsanitary.
“If anything, its more of a cosmetic in nature issue, rather than actually structural defects,” he said by phone. “I can tell you, as of right now, there is working water in all the units, there is no sewage.”
Planincic previously told the planning committee that Mirza was the property manager and would “deal with issues as they arise.”
Mirza denied this characterization, saying he has operated mostly as a consultant and has “nothing to do” with the daily management of the property.
Coun. Sherri Rollins, chair of the property and development committee, described the building as “very, very concerning” and said the city and multiple levels of government have been working to shut it down.
“Nobody should be living at this property,” she said.

Source: CTV News

​A Winnipeg man is raising a red flag after his landlord said no to health-care equipment that could change his life – a problem he believes is a human rights issue.

Alan MacKay, 77, lives with Type 2 diabetes and kidney function loss. It's a condition that requires him to go to the hospital for dialysis four times a week.

A Winnipeg man is raising a red flag after his landlord said no to health-care equipment that could change his life – a problem he believes is a human rights issue.

Alan MacKay, 77, lives with Type 2 diabetes and kidney function loss. It's a condition that requires him to go to the hospital for dialysis four times a week.

"It's my life. If I don't have this dialysis machine hooked up to me, I'm dead," he said.

MacKay said the whole process of travelling to the hospital for dialysis takes about eight hours, but he could get a huge portion of his life back with an at-home dialysis machine in his apartment.

The cost would be covered by Shared Health through the Manitoba Renal Program. The program's website notes it would return the rental unit to its original state, excluding paint, if the patient moves or ends the dialysis treatment.
"This is all being denied to me because the answer from the property manager is no," MacKay said, adding he was told he isn't able to get the at-home machine because his landlord denied the request.

The building's property manager Ryan Cerezo told CTV News in an email that he was informed the machine would require modifications to the cabinets, plumbing and electrical.

"Some changes would be left permanent," he said in an email. "I was left with a yes or no option to continue with the installation."

Cerezo said he chose not to proceed.

Shared Health tells CTV News landlords do need to sign off on any home dialysis equipment.

"If someone lives in a rental property, they must obtain legal written consent from the property owner for any renovations that would be required to safely and properly house the equipment," a spokesperson for Shared Health told CTV News.

"No landlord has a right to deny you your health care. Absolutely not," said MacKay.

It's a problem Laura Tamblyn Watts, the CEO of a national seniors advocacy organization CanAge, said she has seen across the country.

"This is where we see ableism, discrimination against people with disabilities, and ageism collide," she told CTV News.
She said the system right now creates two-tiered health care.

"If this particular gentleman owned his own home or had control over his own housing, he would be the one to make these decisions, and he would then be able to age in place at home with the care such as dialysis that he needs," she said.
"Because he doesn't own his own home and he's having to work with a landlord, he's in a much more vulnerable situation. And it means that he's not getting the benefits as somebody who owns their own home would have."

Shared Health told CTV News the right to home dialysis is protected under the Manitoba Human Rights Code as a reasonable accommodation.

"Landlords are encouraged to understand what rights there are to accommodate under the Code," it said in a statement. "Anyone who feels their rights are being compromised under the code should contact the Manitoba Human Rights Commission."

That's exactly what MacKay has done. He said he's filed a complaint with the commission, but was told it could be two years before his complaint is heard.

While it can't comment on specific cases, the Manitoba Human Rights Commission told CTV News the Human Rights Code requires employers, service and housing providers to uphold the right to equality and non-discrimination in Manitoba. This includes the right of tenants to reasonably accommodate to the point of undue hardship.
Shared Health said tenants can also reach out to the Residential Tenancies Branch, which can tell landlords what their obligations are in cases like this.

With no immediate course of action, MacKay said his only option is to continue travelling to the hospital for care he said he should be allowed to access in his own home.
​
"If it's happening to me, it could happen to anybody else," he said. "And that's wrong. Totally wrong."