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![\"MIKE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4418259_web1_260722-empty-lot-0004.jpg\")
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MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
The empty lot on Silver Creek Road in Bridgwater has been left to grow wild all summer. Residents who live nearby are frustrated with the eyesore, but the city says it is powerless to do anything because it doesn\u2019t have jurisdiction.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely, we have to tell (the city) to clean up because (there) are so much insects, and we have rodents sometimes,\u201d said Manpreet Kaur, whose home is next to the plot.<\/p>\n
Another resident told the Free Press they had repeatedly reached out to 311 and were told the city\u2019s hands are tied because the property is owned by Manitoba Housing, and bylaw officers are unable to intervene.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, because this property is owned by Manitoba Housing, bylaw enforcement services have no jurisdiction,\u201d says an email to a resident from 311.<\/p>\n
She described the situation as a \u201cblame game\u201d between the city and the province.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou guys are all pointing the finger at each other, all making excuses,\u201d said the resident, who asked to not be named.<\/p>\n
Kaur said her husband, Jaspreet Kaur, has repeatedly asked the city to take action \u2014 either by cutting the grass or ordering the owner to do so \u2014 for years. She said her husband has considered starting a petition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are concerned because of the lot, and sometimes we get so much with the winds, garbage that\u2019s collected on the corner, and it doesn\u2019t look good,\u201d she said. \u201cWe pay a lot of \u2026 taxes, it\u2019s a good neighbourhood, they have to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson from the provincial government confirmed the property is owned by Manitoba Housing and said it would be cleaned within 48 hours. The delay in cleaning it is due to \u201csignificant rainfall.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city councillor for the area said it\u2019s a common issue in Bridgwater.<\/p>\n
Manitoba Housing owns several pieces of land in the area. Its goal is to develop and sell them, and use the profit to pay for inner-city housing, said Waverley West Coun. Janice Lukes.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s Manitoba Housing\u2019s responsibility to maintain them. Lukes said the properties are subject to complaints from homeowners.<\/p>\n
\u201cManitoba Housing is not a seasoned developer,\u201d Lukes said. \u201cThey are not \u2026 I don\u2019t know how to say this nicely, but this has been a nightmare for me, because this isn\u2019t their forte, this is not their area of expertise, so it\u2019s not their priority.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lukes said she regularly hears from constituents about poorly managed lots and will drive around the neighbourhood noting unkempt areas to flag to David Pankratz, the NDP MLA for the area.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe\u2019re constantly calling Manitoba Housing on pieces like this, and it\u2019s ridiculous, (the weeds) are up to my hips, it\u2019s tall,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ll call them, they\u2019ll send someone out.\u201d<\/p>\n
A West Broadway landlord was handed a city compliance order this month to clean up \u201can accumulation of garbage\u201d on his riverfront apartment property that had been left by a homeless encampment.<\/p>\n
The order warned that, if the city had to remediate the space, the cost could be added to his property taxes.<\/p>\n
Lukes said the city could \u201ctechnically\u201d issue a similar order to Manitoba Housing, but because there\u2019s consistent contact between the city and the province, it\u2019s faster to deal with it through that line of communication.<\/p>\n
malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
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Malak Abas Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg\u2019s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Malak 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
Reporter
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