Birchwood Terrace resident wonders why they were 'kept in the dark' for weeks before evacuation
Multiple deteriorated steel columns found in apartment block's parkade, city says
Some residents of a Winnipeg apartment block that was evacuated last week wonder why the building's management didn't say anything about potential safety concerns sooner.
Mala Carriere was at the dance studio that her daughter, Shyanne, works at when they learned that their apartment block, Birchwood Terrace, was being evacuated on Thursday.
The City of Winnipeg ordered the evacuation of the 171-suite building that night, after it says it was notified of a third-party engineering inspection that found serious structural deterioration in columns of the building's parkade.
Mala says it was "complete pandemonium" when she and her daughter got to their apartment building on Thursday.
"It was something that I never thought I'd ever see in my lifetime," she said Monday. "The anxiety level was through the roof, not just for us, but for other people — the crying, the scared looks on peoples' faces — it was hard to stomach."
Mala says work was being done in the building's parkade for about six weeks prior to Thursday.
Residents were told at an information meeting Friday that Birchwood Terrace's management was vaguely aware of a potential evacuation a couple days before the city ordered them to leave, according to Mala.
The city's evacuation order to the building's about 250 tenants cited an engineer consultant's inspection, dated Tuesday, which said it discovered deterioration in the parkade that appeared to affect the stability of the entire building.
Mala says residents should have been notified sooner.
"It's so hard to explain how it feels, that we were kept in the dark," she said.
"Only at one point, we got a memo saying they apologized for the noise for the work that they were doing, but never told us what the work was."
Mala says she and her daughter are now staying in a two-bedroom apartment with her eldest daughter — who has two children of her own — along with their dog, bird and fish.
"We're pretty tight, we're on top of each other. We're living out of bags and it's not easy," she said.
"I want the insanity to end."
Tenant reception centre closed: city
Henry Borger, vice-president of residential properties for Ladco Company Ltd. — which owns Lakewood Agencies, the property manager of the apartment complex — declined an interview with CBC on Monday.
In a statement, Borger said Ladco is currently focused on the displaced tenants and bringing their apartments back online, adding that the company will contact tenants with updates in the coming days.
Borger told residents Friday that a letter from the engineer consultant was sent to the City of Winnipeg Tuesday night.
A total of 199 tenants registered at a reception centre set up by the city following last week's evacuation, of which 132 needed food and accommodations, a spokesperson told CBC Monday.
The centre closed Saturday, after all the residents had safely evacuated, the spokesperson said, adding that the city is now working with partners to figure out next steps to help some residents find more permanent housing.
The spokesperson could not offer more information regarding the engineer's inspection of Birchwood Terrace that led to the city's evacuation order, but confirmed it found multiple deteriorated steel columns.
Mala's insurance company told her on Monday that the furniture and other belongings she left behind at Birchwood Terrace are only insured for 30 days after her lease was terminated Thursday, she said.
She was also told her belongings would not be insured if the building were to collapse following those 30 days.
Mala says she wishes Ladco had thought through things more clearly prior to the evacuation.
"I feel they thought more [about] what would happen to them, than what would happen to us."
Mala's daughter, Shyanne, is a full-time university student who just started a full-time job this week. She says not having a home is "unimaginable."
"You don't realize how much your belongings mean to you until they're taken away," she told CBC.
Shyanne says she finds it "unethical" for Birchwood Terrace's management to not let tenants know about potential issues until the evacuation order was issued.
"I feel like the moment they started doing work, the most humane thing was to let us know."
With files from Emily Brass