Residents living in the Inwood Seniors Lodge, a Manitoba Housing rental building, have turned to their MLA for assistance in addressing their concerns about maintenance and a rising vacancy rate that they fear could lead to the closure of their building, mirroring the fate of the Manitoba Housing building in Komarno about 18 kilometres away.
Interlake-Gimli MLA Derek Johnson said he and his staff had submitted a freedom of information request (FIPPA) to the provincial government earlier this year to see how many vacancies there were at the Inwood Seniors Lodge (he obtained results at the end of March), and in late September he met with a group of building residents and older residents from the general area who are interested in eventually moving to the lodge. He also toured the 22-suite facility to understand the residents’ maintenance and other building concerns.
Johnson said the number of empty suites in the lodge is climbing. The vacancy rate with 10 empty suites is 45 per cent. And at a time when Manitobans are struggling to find affordable housing, an effort should be made to fill vacant suites in government-owned subsidized housing.
“There were no repairs required at the lodge at the time we did our FIPPA request, so the vacancies weren’t due to maintenance issues at that time. The FIPPA showed there are 22 units in total and nine were vacant at that time,” said Johnson by phone last week. “Now there are 10 [suites] vacant and soon to be 11, as of my visit a few weeks ago, because a resident said they’re moving to Teulon.”
Manitoba Housing offers a rent-geared-to-income program in which tenants typically pay about 30 per cent of their monthly income towards rent. That’s below market rent, which in some cases can entail people spending half or more than half of their monthly income on rent.
Johnson said lodge residents told him they’re afraid the provincial government will close their building should the vacancy rate continue to climb.
“Manitoba taxpayers are still heating this building whether there are tenants in it or not and generating revenue for Manitoba Housing. So a vacant suite represents a loss of revenue but with the same number of costs,” said Johnson. “The residents are worried their building will become unfeasible and then it will be closed down.”
The Tribune was told by a longtime area resident, who didn’t wish to go on record, that the Manitoba Housing rental facility in Komarno saw a rise in vacancies and was eventually closed.
The Inwood Lodge used to be overseen by a local not-for-profit board, but Manitoba Housing assumed responsibility for daily operations in 2023, Johnson said he was told. The board members were aging out and leaving the board.
A rising vacancy rate at the lodge could potentially spell trouble for a meal program on which many of the current residents rely.
“The meal program requires so many meals a day to continue. If you don’t get that certain number of meal orders, the meal program will close,” said Johnson. “Those who need a meal program would have to move out if the program ended.”
It’s not only vacancies that are concerning Inwood Lodge residents. Johnson said the tenants told him the fire alarm does not connect to the fire department, making it incumbent upon them to call. There is also no connectivity to the building that would allow tenants to use the internet, a cell phone or their medical lifeline or other emergency alerting device, which is one of the main reasons seniors move out. There’s no central cooling of the building, a lack of exhaust fans in some suites, and an ingress, once again, of red-sided garter snakes — the area is famous for its harmless and environmentally beneficial snakes.
Windows in one part of the building don’t open fully and would trap a senior in their suite in the event of a fire in the hallway, and there are non-functioning emergency lights, which are supposed to come on during a power outage. The building’s common area carpets are washed only once a year.
“I was told when the lodge was run by the board, the carpets were cleaned [i.e., washed] every couple of months,” said Johnson. “With the government running it since 2023, the carpets only get a cleaning once a year. And they look disgusting. They’re vacuumed, but they’re not cleaned. The carpet goes to the kitchen, too.”
Despite the shortcomings, Johnson said he was told there are no cockroaches and no bedbugs in the building, and he himself examined the fire extinguishers, which are up to date.
But the residents’ overall concern points to a troubling issue in small communities where seniors who’ve lived there all their lives, and have family and community connections, want to live out their remaining days there and not be uprooted because of a lack of affordable housing and other services.
Should the lodge close because of vacancies, people in town and on surrounding area farms would be deprived of affordable housing options in their community when they need it, said Johnson.
“The majority of the people [in Inwood Lodge] are locals who want to stay independent in their own community. This is about seniors’ independence; that’s what they want most of all,” he said. “But as they start to feel pressured in ways that include not being able to have a lifeline alerting system, that forces them to choose their health over where they live, and they’ll move to a place where that service is available.”
The Tribune contacted a resident of Inwood Lodge and a resident (from another community) who had told the paper they would move to Inwood Lodge if it was possible. The paper did not hear back by press time.
Comments on Johnson’s social media site included an unsubstantiated claim that people inquiring by phone about a suite at Inwood Lodge have been told they’d have to wait a year or longer to get in — which doesn’t appear to marry up with the number of vacant units.
The Tribune had reached out to Manitoba Housing in April for comment on the vacancies and other matters at Inwood Lodge. A spokesperson said at that time there were four suites undergoing renovations, five suites available for rent and one person on the waiting list. The spokesperson also said there were no “current pest issues” and that the government’s “Your Way Home” provincial housing plan does not include offering homeless people in Winnipeg a suite in rural Manitoba Housing facilities.
The spokesperson had also said that demand tends to fluctuates for Manitoba Housing properties such as the one in Inwood. At times there will be few applicants on the waiting list, then a surge of applicants. It depends on local housing market conditions (e.g., if new housing options are available, stabilized rent), movements in the population or seasonal trends.
The Tribune reached out to Manitoba Housing last week to verify if there’s a 45 per cent vacancy rate at Inwood Lodge, how many people are on the waiting list, who would be eligible for a suite, whether maintenance is being sidelined and whether the government has plans to close the building.
A departmental spokesperson provided statistics that indicate the vacancy rate is 41 per cent, and said that Manitoba Housing will consider renting suites — at market rate — to prospective tenants whose incomes would normally disqualify them for subsidized rent in a bid to address the vacancies.
“There are 22 studio and one-bedroom units in the building, with eight currently vacant and ready for occupancy while one unit still requires repairs. There is no one on the waiting list at the moment, and anyone interested can apply. Manitoba Housing would assess the application based on the applicant’s income. Because of the vacancies, individuals above the threshold for subsidized housing would be considered for tenancy (at market rate),” said the spokesperson by email. “Government recently reviewed and spoke with individuals on the waitlist, and held discussions around other locations … based on their preferences. We encourage all applicants to choose many areas given vacancy varies community to community.”
The province has no plans to close Inwood Lodge, he added, and the building has a full-time caretaker who maintains the property.
“The property is in good condition, and there are no plans to close the facility. The building has a full-time contract caretaker who maintains the property. Carpets are vacuumed three times per week,” said the spokesperson. “The property manager attends weekly and communicates with tenants when working from the office space in the building. Tenants have not brought forward any further issues.”
The Tribune spoke with RM of Armstrong Reeve Gary Wasylowski, who said residents at the lodge didn’t ask council for help addressing their concerns as the facility is a provincial responsibility.
