By Doug Smith
The return of tens of thousands of soldiers to civilian life at the end of the Second World War brought the country’s housing crisis to a boiling point, best illustrated by a page-wide headline in the July 11, 1945, Winnipeg Tribune: “Service man and family evicted.” An RCAF corporal, his wife, and four daughters had been evicted by a bailiff and two policemen from the St. Boniface home they had been renting for a year and a half. As the husband explained, “We had a proper eviction notice and everything. The trouble is, we can find no place to go. They just laugh at you when you go to rental agents. As for buying a house, they all want at least $1,000 down. I can make only a small down payment.” The owners of the house had started the eviction process two years earlier: they had been living with in-laws in a home that housed fourteen people and wanted to move into a home of their own.[1] As the winter ban on evictions drew to an end in spring 1945, over 800 Winnipeg families had been served with court orders to leave their rented lodgings. The high number of evictions reflected the extent of overcrowding in the city. When civic officials sent out 65,000 cards to Winnipeggers asking them to take in people on an emergency basis, only 163 people responded, mostly with offers of single rooms.[2] A similar campaign, launched by the city’s Council of Social Agencies, found little in the way of housing for families.[3] In 1946 only 1,317 of the 16,482 families on the city’s housing registry had been accommodated.[4] According to the Canadian Legion, in February 1947, 206 people were living in “stores, garages, tourist cabins, and stables.”[5] H.B. Scott, the chair of the city’s housing committee, told families facing eviction notices not to move. This won him a rebuke from Councillor C.E. Simonite, the chair of the finance committee, who worried that Scott was getting the city into legal trouble. Scott said, “What else could I do? We cannot have these people on the street.”[6]
The problem was national in scope. Federal rent control administrator F.J. Parkinson wrote that families were living in “basements, garages, tourist cabins, trailers, reconverted chicken coops, boats and indeed anything else that will hold a bed.”[7] Through the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the federal government began to convert military barracks to what were termed Emergency Shelters. In some cases, CMHC worked in conjunction with municipalities and opened the shelters to the general population. But where municipalities declined to provide funding, the shelters were restricted to service personnel and their families. The government placeD a strict limit on what it would contribute to the conversion of the barracks. Amenities were to be strictly limited as an incentive to ensure that people would seize the first opportunity to leave the shelter. The was to be no convenience or comfort in an Emergency Shelter: cities such as Hamilton that were too liberal in their spending on the conversion of barracks to emergency shelters had their federal grants cut.[8] In 1947 CMHC head David Mansur had to report that the system had worked only too well. Some municipalities had simply turned vacant buildings over the homeless and left them to fend for themselves. Mansur had encountered situations where families were:
Herded together in an abandoned immigration shed, right along side the railway yards, where children have no place to play but the hallways of the build and where the building is infested with vermin and people live in ultimate squalor.
Families broke up, children acted out, and shelter residents were isolated from the general community. However, no one was coddled.[9]
Councillor Scott organized the establishment of Emergency Housing in Winnipeg, arranging with federal officials in Ottawa to have two former immigration halls (one on Water Street and one on Maple Street), two air training centres (one in the municipality of Tuxedo formerly the Manitoba School for the Deaf and one in St. James, known as Jameswood), one equipment depot (on Notre Dame and Empress), and one former naval barracks (583 Ellice Avenue) being converted into Emergency Housing.[10] One of the program’s enduring legacies was the 100-unit housing development at Flora Place.
The fact that two of the former military bases were located in municipalities that bordered the city, giving rise to the unusual situation of the city paying to house residents outside the city limits. Tuxedo mayor David Finkelstein, ever protective of his community’s elite status, was reluctant to see the air training school in Tuxedo used for emergency family housing, and suggested the buildings be moved into Winnipeg.[11] Initially all the units at Jameswood were reserved for veterans, measures that drew criticism from Communist councillor Jacob Penner, who said the city’s emergency program should focus solely on the needs of the general population and leave the needs of veterans to the federal government.[12]
Having acquired the right to use the buildings for emergency housing, Scott had to struggle with Simonite to have the city spend money renovating them for family use, warning at one point that “If we don’t get on with work at the airport, we may have the veterans taking over the buildings as they have done elsewhere.” Simonite opposed spending money on temporary accommodation when local builders could build homes that would last for decades if only the city would give them the money they needed. Scott admonished him that “When you talk of finishing homes, the type of men we are looking after, including returned men accommodated at the airport, are [in] no position to buy homes.”[13] By 1947, the city and the federal had spent $137,497 on emergency housing: the tenants were charged a rent that was expected to cover operating costs[14]
Life in emergency housing was cramped, bleak, and unhealthy. The 100 children living in the Water Street immigration hall were at risk of outbreaks of diseases and distant from any city schools.[15] Seventeen families living on one floor of the building shared a single toilet. Not surprisingly diphtheria, chickenpox, and measles were prevalent in both halls.[16] William Courage, who had become the supervisor of Emergency Housing, was not shy in drawing attention to the “overcrowding, communal use of washrooms and toilet facilities, insufficient privacy because of flimsy walls” that characterized life in these facilities. The Tuxedo units were “unsuitable for the large families housed there,” while the housing at Jameswood was sub-standard housing and expensive to operate.[17] In 1948 the 58 families living at Jameswood complained that the heating was inadequate, dangerous, and dirty, the halls unclean, the roofs leaky, the sanitary facilities insanitary, and the windows leaky.[18]. Courage said that thirty-two families living at the Tuxedo site in 1953 felt as though they were being held in a concentration camp. Young people living in the shelter “have been denied the social environment of ordinary neighbourhoods” and “a strong feeling of rejection is felt by the whole group.”[19] Things were just as bad in the private sector, where, in 1949 Courage reported “thousands of low-income workers are ill-housed in over-crowded, sub-standard dwellings in congested areas.” The strict enforcement of building and health bylaws would result in further hardship as people would be evicted with a “lack of alternative accommodation.” In the past year, Courage wrote, the city had been able to place only 320 of 4,234 families that had applied for shelter.[20]
The federal government saw its commitment to Emergency Housing as short term. It wanted its buildings back, either to house refugees from Europe or to sell or convert to other purposes. By the spring of 1947, the federal government was pressing the city to evict the 76 families living in the downtown immigration halls and the 14 families living in the naval barracks on Ellice, so the buildings could be used to house displaced persons from Europe, sold or converted to other purposes. Communist councillor M.J. Forkin said that while he had “every sympathy” with the displaced persons, he could see no point in the city displacing the current residents of the shelter.[21]
Under Courage’s leadership, the city ended up building new Emergency Housing on city-owned land in the North End. Courage initially proposed the construction of a number of three-story brick-and-concrete apartment blocks on the site of the former Exhibition Grounds that would provide low-income provide housing for 750 households.[22] Instead, in the summer of 1947, the council agreed to build 100 units of tiny, prefabricated housing on the site. The cost per unit was $2,500, with Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation providing a grant of $1,000 a unit grant.[23]As with Wartime Housing, this development, which was known as Flora Place, was meant to be temporary.[24] The rents at Flora Place were set at $22 a month, which amounted to a three-dollar a month subsidy.[25] In December 1947, less than half a year after the project was approved, the first units were ready for occupancy.[26] Courage had concerns about the quality of construction at Flora Place, warning that “low construction costs inevitably result in a rapid rate of deterioration of buildings and ultimately high operation and maintenance costs.”[27] But, he said, “the real significance of these homes is that they stand as a concrete example of public recognition of the community’s responsibility for the maintenance of the integrity of the family.”[28]
The construction of Flora Place did not mean the end of emergency housing. As late as 1953 there were still 140 families living at the Tuxedo and Jameswood sites.[29] While twenty families had been served with eviction notices in Tuxedo, Courage noted that there was no affordable housing available for them.[30] The housing at Flora Place proved to be far from temporary. Nor could the city escape the consequences of its decision to skimp on size and quality. The houses had been built to accommodate two adults and two children, as long as the children were of the same sex. In 1959, fifteen of the families living at Flora Place had an average of seven children. The city wanted to evict these families on the grounds that they were living in overcrowded conditions. But there was nowhere in the city they could get better housing at the same price. The families facing evictions had incomes of between $150 a month for a family of eight and $270 a month for a family of ten. None were paying more than $50 a month in rent.[31] One father said that if his family was forced to move back into what he termed the “slums,” he would turn over his seven children to the Children’s Aid Society. He said the only homes that he could afford were in dilapidated houses on Jarvis Street. He recognized that his family was too large for the tiny Flora Place houses but said “I won’t live among bootleggers and prostitution. That sort of place has done me enough harm.”[32] In the end, the families were forced to move into housing that city officials found for them.[33]
In 1980 responsibility for operating the 100-units of 33-year-old temporary housing was transferred to the federal and provincial governments. Twenty years later 72 of them were demolished. The remaining units were demolished in 2006, to make way for the construction of 28 units of low-cost housing that opened in the following year.[34]
The story of Winnipeg’s Emergency Housing program makes for grim reading. The post-war housing crisis did turn a number of municipal officials into outspoken advocates of public housing. In a 1947 interview with a Free Press reporter, a clearly frustrated Fred Austin, then the city’s chief housing inspector, pulled an earlier report from his desk, titled “The Crying Needs of Housing Today,” and pointed to its recommendation “That dwelling units be constructed out of adequate grants from the federal government, and, and that they pass to municipal control and be made available only to those families who need more space than they can pay for at a rental of about one fifth their salary or wages.” The need for such an initiative was, he said, greater than ever.[35] For his part, Courage wrote, “It is now necessary to demonstrate to the provincial government the degree of need for low-rented housing in the city which would justify the province in immediately enacting housing legislation, so that the terms and conditions of the National Housing Act would become operative.” [36]
Sources
Bacher, John C. “Keeping to the private market: the evolution of Canadian housing policy, 1900-1949.” MA, Thesis University of Toronto, 1985.
Kari Schulz in collaboration with David Dessen. Flora Place, Winnipeg: Integrating the Public and Community Sectors in a Place-based Approach to Affordable Housing, Case in Point 2007. University of Manitoba, Department of City Planning, 2007.
References
[1] “Service man and family evicted,” Winnipeg Tribune, July 11, 1945.
[2] “City news request for congested area,” Winnipeg Free Press, April 10, 1945.
[3] “Share-the-home appeal planned in Winnipeg,” Winnipeg Tribune/Winnipeg Free Press, January 4, 1946; “The crisis in housing,” Winnipeg Free Press, January 16, 1946.
[4] “Housing shortage in Winnipeg,” Winnipeg Tribune, February 6, 1947.
[5] “206 persons in unlawful homes,” Winnipeg Tribune, February 27, 1947.
[6] “Stay put, says Alderman Scott,” Winnipeg Free Press, April 10, 1945.
[7] Library and Archives Canada, RG19, Volume 3961, Department of Finance Papers, J.F. Parkinson, “Notes on Discussions with Rentals’ Officials in Western Canada”, May 11, 1946, quoted in John C. Bacher, “Keeping to the private market: the evolution of Canadian housing policy, 1900-1949,” MA Thesis, University of Toronto, 1985, University of Toronto, 1985, 492.
[8] John C. Bacher, “Keeping to the private market: the evolution of Canadian housing policy, 1900-1949,” MA Thesis, University of Toronto, 1985, University of Toronto, 1985, 493–494.
[9] Library and Archives Canada, RG19, Volume 728, File 203 CMHC-1, Memo for C.D. Howe from David Mansur re Emergency Shelter, May 23, 1947, John C. Bacher, “Keeping to the private market: the evolution of Canadian housing policy, 1900-1949,” MA Thesis, University of Toronto, 1985, University of Toronto, 1985, 494.
[10] “No shelter relief, says committee,” Winnipeg Tribune, September 6, 1945; “Ottawa hears from Ald. Scott,” Winnipeg Tribune, October 30, 1945; “600 to get homes in Immigration Hall,” Winnipeg Tribune, October 31, 1945; “City sees grim housing picture,” Winnipeg Tribune, July 23, 1946; “Repair depot units available to city,” Winnipeg Tribune/Winnipeg Free Press, March 6, 1946; “Alderman Scott obtains revision,” Winnipeg Tribune, July 12, 1946; “Families to move into Flora Place,” Winnipeg Tribune, December 6, 1947; “City gets $135,000 aid for emergency shelters,” Winnipeg Tribune, March 7, 1947; “Emergency shelter costs city $48,547,” Winnipeg Tribune, July 3, 1947; “Fires brightly burning in Flora Place homes,” Winnipeg Free Press, December 15, 1947. For information on Jameswood, see: Manitoba Historical Society, Historic Sites of Manitoba: Repair Depot No. 8 / Jameswood Place (Winnipeg), http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/repairdepot8.shtml, accessed 9 December 2020. This site was also known as the No. 5 Release Centre. See: Manitoba Historical Society, Historic Sites of Manitoba: Repair Depot No. 8 School / Jameswood Place School (Winnipeg), http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/index.shtml, accessed 9 December 2020.
[11] “Use of the No. 3 Wireless huts up to City and Tuxedo Firm,” Winnipeg Free Press, July 26, 1946.
[12] “Homes for 46 more families,” Winnipeg Tribune, September 1946; “City seeks added housing as October crisis looms,” Winnipeg Free Press, July 23, 1946.
[13] “City may break even on Emergency Housing costs,” Winnipeg Tribune, September 24, 1946.
[14] “Emergency shelter costs city $48,547,” Winnipeg Tribune, July 3, 1947; “Fires brightly burning in Flora Place homes,” Winnipeg Free Press, December 15, 1947.
[15] “Aim to safeguard shelter dwellers,” Winnipeg Tribune, November 7, 1945.
[16] “City housing ‘Bad as ever’: Courage,” Winnipeg Tribune, April 8, 1947; “Housing project vote by ratepayers urged,” Winnipeg Free Press, July 3, 1947.
[17] “Courage report urges cheap, public housing,” Winnipeg Free Press, December 22, 1948.
[18] “Emergency shelter residents condemn living conditions,” Winnipeg Free Press, February 27, 1948.
[19] “Vandalism worries Tuxedo,” Winnipeg Free Press, January 8, 1953; [19] “Housing lack acute, city warned,” Winnipeg Free Press, January 28, 1953.
[20] 4,234 apply for housing; 320 placed,” Winnipeg Free Press, January 14, 1950.
[21] “City to fight evictions,” Winnipeg Tribune, July 11, 1947; “Council Call Special Meeting to Discuss Housing Situation,” Winnipeg Tribune, 4 July 1947; “Flora Place rents set at $22 a month,” Winnipeg Free Press, November 4, 1947; “Families in emergency shelters to move into new homes Dec. 1,” Winnipeg Free Press, November 17, 1947.
[22] “Courage report urges cheap, public housing,” Winnipeg Free Press, December 22, 1948.
[23] “City council votes to build 100 new emergency houses,” Winnipeg Free Press, August 26, 1947.
[24] “Central Mortgage agrees to emergency shelter grant,” Winnipeg Free Press, August 1, 1947; “Flora Place project going ahead rapidly,” Winnipeg Free Press, September 29, 1947.
[25] “Flora Place rents set at $22 a month,” Winnipeg Free Press, November 4, 1947.
[26] “Fires brightly burning in Flora Place homes,” Winnipeg Free Press, December 15, 1947.
[27] “Courage report urges cheap, public housing,” Winnipeg Free Press, December 22, 1948.
[28] “Courage urges slum clearing plan,” Winnipeg Free Press, December 17, 1947.
[29] “Flora Place housing plan given city,” Winnipeg Free Press, May 22, 1953; “Quit-shelter notices sent by city,” Winnipeg Free Press, November 4, 1953.
[30] “20 families get notices,” Winnipeg Free Press, May 14, 1953.
[31] “14 families must find new homes,” Winnipeg Free Press, January 22, 1959; “Tenant fights eviction ‘What about others?’” Winnipeg Free Press, February 3, 1959; “Eviction hangs over their heads,” Winnipeg Free Press, August 18, 1959.
[32] Pat Benham, “Says he’d give up family rather than live in slum,” Winnipeg Free Press, July 4, 1959.
[33] “Flora Place: just 2 to go,” Winnipeg Free Press, October 31, 1959.
[34] Kari Schulz in collaboration with David Dessen, Flora Place, Winnipeg: Integrating the Public and Community Sectors in a Place-based Approach to Affordable Housing, Case in Point 2007, University of Manitoba, Department of City Planning, 2007.
[35] “City short 10,000 housing units, yet 400 stand empty says official,” Winnipeg Free Press September 29, 1947.
[36] “Home shortage worse, says Courage,” Winnipeg Tribune, January 14, 1950.