ManitobaA group of residents on Furby Street in Winnipeg’s Spence neighbourhood say a cluster of eight vacant lots on the block between Ellice and Sargent Avenues represent a wasted opportunity, as governments launch initiatives to build housing and combat homelessness.Residents want City of Winnipeg, province or feds to build on 8 empty lots on block between Ellice and SargentCameron MacLean · CBC News · Posted: Oct 10, 2025 8:08 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoEmmanuel Gabriel Michael says the vacant lots next to his Furby Street home pose a risk to his five kids. (Jeff Stapleton/CBC)A single block of Winnipeg’s Spence neighbourhood is dotted with eight vacant lots, many of them the result of fires in recent years.Emmanuel Gabriel Michael, who lives on the block of Furby Street between Ellice and Sargent avenues, is raising his five children next to two side-by-side vacant lots. The grass grows high and garbage piles up on the lots, and they often become a place for people to hang out or sleep. “It is not good for the beauty, even for the safety, even for the hygiene.… Some people, you know, they throw some things which can harm even the kids,” he said.As the city, province and federal government push to fast-track new housing, some Furby residents say the empty spaces represent wasted potential.Building on the lots “would be good for the beauty, the safety, those who are living [here],” said Gabriel Michael.A group of neighbours calling themselves Furby United Residents, or FUR, put together a video showing the eight empty properties. They sent it to Mayor Scott Gillingham, provincial Housing Minister Bernadette Smith and other elected officials at all levels of government.Cheryl Martens, who lives on the block, says the vacant lots she sees out her window are part of a wider problem in the core-area neighbourhood. She’s counted as many as 70 in Spence, which has among the highest concentrations of vacant properties in the city, and says they shouldn’t have to resort to making videos to call attention to the problem. “I think that this is a problem that’s manageable,” she said. “Put houses on these lots, have people come and live here. Have people, you know, build nice houses.”Cheryl Martens lives on Furby Street and is part of a group calling attention to the problems of lack of housing in the area, including eight vacant lots on her block. (Jeff Stapleton/CBC)The eight lots include a double lot at 489 Furby St., along with vacant lots at 522, 524, 547, 548, 550 and 577 Furby.Rachel Larson, who has lived on Furby for 20 years, says she joined the campaign because she wants to see the neighbourhood improve.”The way to improve a neighbourhood is to get full-time people here, not transients,” she said. “Let’s get the neighbourhood more settled with people that want to be here and want to put the investment in the area.”Larson says the empty spaces have become magnets for drug use and petty crime.”I watch drug deals go down daily just from my kitchen window,” she said. “People don’t want to be here, don’t want to go out of their house at night. They’re afraid of break-ins.”No plan to buy lots, city saysMichael Tyres, another Furby resident, believes the cluster of vacant lots points to a deeper failure of housing policy.”There are supposed to be new housing initiatives,” he said. “But I see no evidence of it here.”This lot at 577 Furby St. is one of several left vacant in recent years as a result of fires. (Jeff Stapleton/CBC)Tyres says vacant properties erode the value of nearby homes and create uncertainty about what will eventually be built. “We’d rather have certainty, and certainly have housing on these lots as opposed to just weeds,” he said.In 2023, the City of Winnipeg signed an agreement with the federal government worth $122 million to speed up housing construction.And earlier this year, the provincial government launched a strategy to move people in homeless encampments into housing.The City of Winnipeg said it expects to create about 2,542 new units citywide, including 1,284 affordable units, through a program funded by the federal government’s housing accelerator fund.The city’s land enhancement office “is focused on advancing housing projects on existing city-owned land” as part of the housing accelerator program, a city spokesperson wrote in an email.Currently, “there are no plans to acquire privately owned vacant houses or lots,” the spokesperson said.One of Furby lots — at 547 — is city-owned, and is leased out as a community garden. A city spokesperson said there are no plans to change that arrangement.Housing Minister Bernadette Smith said in a statement her government remains committed to expanding social and affordable housing, and has helped house 1,400 people who were homeless or precariously housed since the 2023 election.WATCH | 8 vacant lots on Furby a missed opportunity for housing, residents say:Furby Street residents want government to buy, build on vacant lotsA group of residents in Winnipeg’s Spence neighbourhood say eight vacant lots in a one-block stretch of their street represent an opportunity for government to follow through on promises to build thousands of new houses.ABOUT THE AUTHORCameron MacLean is a journalist for CBC Manitoba living in Winnipeg, where he was born and raised. He has more than a decade of experience reporting in the city and across Manitoba, covering a wide range of topics, including courts, politics, housing, arts, health and breaking news. Email story tips to cameron.maclean@cbc.ca.
Cluster of vacant lots on Winnipeg’s Furby Street a missed opportunity for affordable housing: residents
