Burned-out public housing will be sold, not repaired. An activist neighbour is furious

NDP leader Jim Dinn and resident Mark Wilson are outraged after learning that a Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation building in downtown St. John’s is being sold but housing minister John Abbott is defending a decision.

Housing minister John Abbott defends sale of 106-108 Livingstone Street

Elizabeth Whitten · CBC News · Posted: Nov 22, 2024 1:32 PM EST | Last Updated: November 22

A man wearing a jacket, hat and work boots sits on the step of a boarded up residence. — Mark Wilson says he's devastated by the Newfoundland and Labrador government's decision to sell 106-108 Livingstone St. rather than turn it into a community centre. (Paul Daly/The Canadian Press)

For more than a year, a Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corp. building has sat vacant in downtown St. John's after a fire gutted it. Instead of being repaired, it will be sold — and the decision has outraged housing advocates.

Last October a fire tore through 106-108 Livingstone St. as well as a neighbouring house. The building, which once had four units, has sat boarded up and vacant ever since.

It recently appeared on a real estate listing with an asking price of $119,900.

Housing activist Mark Wilson, who lives in the area and has advocated for the lower-income community, is devastated by the decision to sell it and sees it as a sign that the provincial government has forgotten people struggling to make ends meet.

"Every city does need a slum. Are we that slum? Are we going to continue to be that slum? I can't see — after all the effort that we've put in — how there wouldn't be the political will to do something about it," Wilson told CBC News.

Wilson said the community desperately needs investments into social housing but there are already several units on the street that have been boarded up after some kind of damage.

'It boggles the mind'

In an interview with CBC News, NDP leader and St. John's Centre MHA Jim Dinn said when he heard a building that had offered public housing options was for sale, his immediate reactions included disgust and outrage.

"How could the department be so stupid and short-sighted in this?" he said. "To me it feels like they've just written off that neighborhood."

Fire trucks and a firefighter on the street and pouring water at a building. — In October of 2023 a fire broke out at a home on Lime Street and then spread to 106-108 Livingstone Street. (Ted Dillon/CBC )

Dinn said if the government isn't interested in fixing up the property, it could have come to an arrangement with the Co-Operative Housing Association of Newfoundland and Labrador or another non-profit organization that wants to build affordable housing in the area.

"How short-sighted, how myopic, how blind can a minister and his department officials be to this opportunity? It boggles the mind."

At a time when there needs to be more affordable housing built due to a housing crisis, Dinn said he's baffled that these units are being sold off. He worries more N.L. housing units will be offloaded to private buyers.

Desire for community centre stymied

Both Wilson and Dinn cite a $70,000 feasibility study the government commissioned to look at a community centre for the area and they hoped the centre would be located at 106-108 Livingstone St.

Wilson said he's upset that the property was sold without residents getting a heads-up.

"What is going on at the provincial government? What are they doing? It's mind boggling to the point where I don't want to be here anymore," Wilson said.

Man with white hair in grey suit — NDP leader Jim Dinn says he wanted the property to be turned into a community centre or sold to another non-profit organization who could have built affordable homes on the site. (Danny Arsenault/CBC)

Dinn said the owner of the nearby Lime Street home that was destroyed in 2023 offered to sell the land to the government for housing.

Dinn said that could have been used to expand the available units or even create a combination affordable housing and community centre, but it went nowhere.

"Now this week, here is the property — the very property we were after because it's so centrally located — is now being sold," said Dinn.

Abbott defends sale

On Thursday, Dinn raised the sale of the Livingstone Street building in the House of Assembly.

Housing Minister John Abbott said after weighing options and the work needed to repair the building, officials decided against it.

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"As a result, we have made that unit available to the market. Meanwhile, we are expanding our NLHC units across the city and across the province and we will continue to invest in social housing to expand to meet the need here in the province," Abbott told the legislature.

Man standing in a suit with a purple. His hands are clasped together. — On Thursday at the Housing of Assembly, housing minister John Abbott says given the work required at 106-108 Livingstone Street, it was decided to sell the property instead. (The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador)

He also said the government is also working on other initiatives to address housing needs, including a five-point housing plan and increasing land available for affordable housing, among other investments.

Abbott also said that a community centre in the centre downtown area is still on the table.

"As a child, I grew up on Livingstone Street, so I am familiar with the neighbourhood. Quite familiar with the neighbourhood," he said. "We are committed to putting in a community centre and to support the residents and children in that area."

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