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![\"MIKAELA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4181879_web1_260429-Polish-Manor-00099.jpg\")
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MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
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The Canadian Polish Manor on Selkirk Avenue where elderly and disabled residents say their sense of safety and community has been shattered by drug use and crime since younger residents with addictions and other issues moved in.<\/p>\n
Frieda Campbell, 69, said she and some other neighbours barricade the entrance to their suites, because intoxicated people and gang members roam the hallways banging on doors. Recently, someone discharged pepper spray, prompting Campbell to call 911 as she struggled to breathe.<\/p>\n
Breton, who uses a walker, says she\u2019s hyper-vigilant navigating the hallways and elevator. When she does go out, her daughter escorts her to and from her suite, and once confronted a man urinating in the hallway.<\/p>\n
In the last year, the lobby has been plastered with posters warning residents to watch their laundry so it\u2019s not stolen, along with names and photos of people who\u2019ve been banned from the 55-plus block.<\/p>\n
The intercom system at the front entrance hasn\u2019t worked for weeks, so residents are required to go downstairs to let visitors in or accept deliveries.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m scared of being banged over the head when my prescription comes,\u201d Breton said. The women said there\u2019s evidence of drug dealing in the building, with intoxicated people inside, others appearing to have overdosed in the stairwell and customers whistling or screaming from the street to be let inside.<\/p>\n
Allison Bailey, who also uses a walker, said last week she was accosted at the entrance and shoved out of the way by non-residents \u201ctailgating\u201d \u2014 trying to get inside. The 62-year-old said if she tries to stop an intruder from entering, she could be charged with assault.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never been frightened in my life and now I am\u2026 I\u2019ve been here 11 years and this is the first year my daughter is at me to move out\u2026 It\u2019s really awful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel for these tenants,\u201d said James Heinrichs, executive director of the Winnipeg Housing and Rehabilitation Corp., which manages the Canadian Polish Manor and close to 50 other social-housing buildings.<\/p>\n
The organization is reviewing security at the Selkirk Ave. building, which has 169 of the 1,800 units managed by the non-profit corporation, set up 49 years ago to develop and manage inner-city housing.<\/p>\n
Placing a security guard inside overnight is under consideration in the building where residents don\u2019t pay rent of more than 30 per cent of their income.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have a huge budget,\u201d said Heinrichs.<\/p>\n
Security is being reviewed at the building, where residents are advised not to try to stop an intruder and to call police. He acknowledged that a call about someone sneaking past a resident into the building may not be very high on the police priority list.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are overwhelmed with situations they\u2019re dealing with on a daily basis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are overwhelmed with situations they\u2019re dealing with on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wednesday morning, Bailey and neighbours Campbell and Breton watched as a new tenant wearing a short bathrobe and appearing too young to be a senior opened a back door next to the dining area and let a young man with a bike inside.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are you looking at?\u201d she hissed at the wary elderly women. \u201cThat\u2019s my son.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWelcome to the Polish Manor,\u201d Bailey quipped. She and her neighbours say their safety is being sacrificed in an effort to house the homeless.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re not alone, said Erika Wiebe of the Right to Housing Coalition\u2019s seniors working group. A growing number of low-income seniors living in social housing are bearing the brunt of the provincial government\u2019s homelessness strategy, the retired community development worker said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a huge problem,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople are moving (in) who are wreaking havoc.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wiebe pointed to 22 Strauss Dr. in west Winnipeg, a Manitoba Housing 55-plus block where residents interviewed by the Free Press in 2025 described many of the same safety concerns as seniors at 300 Selkirk. Younger people with addictions and mental-health issues move in \u2014 often after being homeless \u2014 and refuse treatment and the other wrap-around supports they need.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat type of situation does that put us in as landlords? We want to do the best we can\u2026 Some things are beyond our control.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has to be a better option for high-acuity people who haven\u2019t learned to live independently,\u201d Wiebe said, adding that moving them into a 55-plus building with vulnerable seniors shouldn\u2019t be happening.<\/p>\n
Just north of downtown, the Canadian Polish Manor is surrounded by poverty, addictions and homelessness, which are growing challenges right across Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe work with a lot of social services agencies trying to house people,\u201d Heinrichs said. \u201cWe don\u2019t know where a lot of these people come from but one of the things we expect is social service agencies are there are with supports.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the two dozen agencies WHRC works with are all trying their best to help, there\u2019s not much they can do if a tenant cancels the support provided to them.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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\u201cWhat type of situation does that put us in as landlords? We want to do the best we can,\u201d Heinrichs said. \u201cSome things are beyond our control.\u201d<\/p>\n
The non-profit corporation can\u2019t tell tenants who they can invite into the building or control someone falling back into addiction, he said.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Alison Bailey (left), Agnes Breton, and Frieda Campbell at the Canadian Polish Manor, where residents are fearful of tenants placed there for transitional housing.<\/p>\n If someone is causing trouble, they need evidence to take to the Residential Tenancies Branch in order to evict them.<\/p>\n Heinrichs said that Manitoba Justice is investigating concerns at Canadian Polish Manor. Justice Minister Matt Wiebe\u2019s press secretary Ben Leahy confirmed Wednesday that the department\u2019s public safety unit is investigating. Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith was not made available for an interview Wednesday.<\/p>\n carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Carol Sanders Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n
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