Winnipeg | 185 Smith St | Smith Street Lofts

[905er]

this is looking Great so far!

[Kris22]

Originally Posted by Untrepid

Hey new tenants. Enjoy your stolen suites.
This building was stolen from elderly and disabled people.
Hope you feel good about that while living there.

I am pretty sure this building has been vacant for about 5 years?

[optimusREIM]

Originally Posted by Kris22

I am pretty sure this building has been vacant for about 5 years?

Not to mention that the residents who will live there have nothing to do with the process that drove the old ones out. Neither does the developer as far as that goes.

[Kris22]

Originally Posted by optimusREIM

Not to mention that the residents who will live there have nothing to do with the process that drove the old ones out. Neither does the developer as far as that goes.

Ya it's clearly just misdirected anger. But apparently worth making an account on a construction forum to berate possible future renters.

[bomberjet]

Is there a shortage of space for the elderly and disabled? Serious question because I don't know.

[rkspec]

Dont you need to own something in order to have it stolen from you?

[buzzg]

I think the balconies will accentuate the design. Having the mix of concrete and brick textures, with the glass and black accents should make this look fantastic – and maybe even brand new as opposed to just a refurb. I love the way the concrete and brick look together in the renders.

Originally Posted by Untrepid

Hey new tenants. Enjoy your stolen suites.
This building was stolen from elderly and disabled people.
Hope you feel good about that while living there.

LOL. Sure. Even if it wasn't almost condemned, empty for 5 years, and contrary to MB Housing's new strategy – the government closed it and sold it legally.

[WinCitySparky]

Originally Posted by Untrepid

Hey new tenants. Enjoy your stolen suites.
This building was stolen from elderly and disabled people.
Hope you feel good about that while living there.

Must be the same person that wrote the appeal to the former-community-garden development on Sherbrook

[OTA in Winnipeg]

Originally Posted by Untrepid

Hey new tenants. Enjoy your stolen suites.
This building was stolen from elderly and disabled people.
Hope you feel good about that while living there.

Right. Explain the 24 hour security and constant police presence.

[EdwardTH]

Originally Posted by buzzg

I think the balconies will accentuate the design. Having the mix of concrete and brick textures, with the glass and black accents should make this look fantastic – and maybe even brand new as opposed to just a refurb. I love the way the concrete and brick look together in the renders.




LOL. Sure. Even if it wasn't almost condemned, empty for 5 years, and contrary to MB Housing's new strategy – the government closed it and sold it legally.

lol yeah the new PC strategy of "Hey poor people fuck off and die. Or live under a bridge if you must, but not the same bridge as we'll periodically come tear your tent down and force you to move." Sounds like a great, compassionate Christian plan. Bless Reverend Pallister

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by EdwardTH

lol yeah the new PC strategy of "Hey poor people fuck off and die. Or live under a bridge if you must, but not the same bridge as we'll periodically come tear your tent down and force you to move." Sounds like a great, compassionate Christian plan. Bless Reverend Pallister

I don't think any MB provincial government has come up with a decent housing strategy for poor/homeless people. Personally I think the main problem addressing the issue, AFTER the expense of building/supplying suitable housing , is how the homeless tend to be characterized as one extreme or another.

From what I've read (no direct experience with the homeless myself, I admit that), some homeless are people who genuinely fell on extremely hard times due to no fault of their own. Some fell into substance abuse after personal tragedy, and some simply find their lives to be "easier" by living "rough" and panhandling than getting jobs, paying taxes, etc. Obviously, one strategy will not work for everyone.

Has any country or jurisdiction ever truly "ended" homelessness, or will this always be with us to osme extent?

[drew]

^ mental illness is a huge factor as well, probably the largest IMO.

[OTA in Winnipeg]

^Definitely.

[davequanbury]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

Is there a shortage of space for the elderly and disabled? Serious question because I don't know.

Yes. There is a shortage of affordable units.

[davequanbury]

Originally Posted by rkspec

Dont you need to own something in order to have it stolen from you?

My understanding is that the building was originally constructed to provide affordable units but that the government divested itself of the property and now it will operate at market rate.
From the perspective of those needing affordable units, certainly an unfortunate move especially since the government effectively stopped building any new affordable units in the 1990s. Guilting the new residents seems misplaced though.

But on a philosophical level, no, I don't think one needs to own something to have it stolen. Water... Land... civil or human rights...

[pspeid]

Originally Posted by drew

^ mental illness is a huge factor as well, probably the largest IMO.

Yes, it's been noted that past attempts to "de-institutionalize" people who had been in institutions simply led to many of them becoming homeless, due to a lack of any substantial supports after they left their hospitals.

[Andy6]

Originally Posted by davequanbury

My understanding is that the building was originally constructed to provide affordable units but that the government divested itself of the property and now it will operate at market rate.
From the perspective of those needing affordable units, certainly an unfortunate move especially since the government effectively stopped building any new affordable units in the 1990s. Guilting the new residents seems misplaced though.

But on a philosophical level, no, I don't think one needs to own something to have it stolen. Water... Land... civil or human rights...

I don’t think someone can steal your civil rights. What would they do with them ... sell them to someone else? “Hey pal, wanna buy some freedom of religion? Real cheap!”

[Spocket]

Yes, there is a difference between denying somebody something and "stealing" it.

And I wouldn't blame just the PCs for the current mess, either. A lot more folks started showing up on street corners asking for change during the NDP's reign so while I don't know what policies they did put in place, they clearly weren't particularly effective.

As for this conversion: It would have cost the government far more than it was worth to fix the building. It would have been cheaper for the government to do exactly what it did so nothing has been lost at the end of the day. At least, not thanks to government ignorance.

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by EdwardTH

lol yeah the new PC strategy of "Hey poor people fuck off and die. Or live under a bridge if you must, but not the same bridge as we'll periodically come tear your tent down and force you to move." Sounds like a great, compassionate Christian plan. Bless Reverend Pallister

Originally Posted by pspeid

I don't think any MB provincial government has come up with a decent housing strategy for poor/homeless people. Personally I think the main problem addressing the issue, AFTER the expense of building/supplying suitable housing , is how the homeless tend to be characterized as one extreme or another.

From what I've read (no direct experience with the homeless myself, I admit that), some homeless are people who genuinely fell on extremely hard times due to no fault of their own. Some fell into substance abuse after personal tragedy, and some simply find their lives to be "easier" by living "rough" and panhandling than getting jobs, paying taxes, etc. Obviously, one strategy will not work for everyone.

Has any country or jurisdiction ever truly "ended" homelessness, or will this always be with us to osme extent?

This isn't about homeless people – ya, know ones done anything about that issue that's worked.

This was an affordable housing building run by Manitoba Housing. The new strategy (which is getting better reviews) is to subsidize rents of people going into existing or mixed buildings, rather than cramming "poor" people all into one building, which helps just about no one. It also helps people have more options for housing style.

[borkborkbork]

Originally Posted by buzzg

This was an affordable housing building run by Manitoba Housing. The new strategy (which is getting better reviews) is to subsidize rents of people going into existing or mixed buildings, rather than cramming "poor" people all into one building, which helps just about no one. It also helps people have more options for housing style.

This strategy also doesn't rely on MB Housing actually maintaining its properties or using them for their intended purposes: As I heard this story, 185 Smith basically was designed as small seniors' apartments, then turned into general low-income housing with massively overcrowded suites, and then basically deferred every bit of maintenance until the building was left unoccupiable.