ManitobaDerelict buildings are creating increasing safety risks and financial strain, the Association of Manitoba Municipalities says, and it’s passed a resolution asking the province to help. Province needs to overhaul rules now: Association of Manitoba MunicipalitiesChelsea Kemp · CBC News · Posted: Nov 28, 2025 6:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 3 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.The Association of Manitoba Municipalities is calling on the province to amend the rules and help cover the costs of derelict buildings. (Prabhjot Singh Lotey/CBC)Derelict buildings are creating increasing safety risks and financial strain, the Association of Manitoba Municipalities says, and it’s passed a resolution asking the province to help. The AMM passed a resolution at its fall convention this week calling on the province to streamline enforcement under the Municipal Act, provide financial assistance for remediation and demolition, and introduce penalties for property owners who abandon buildings.They say abandoned properties have become fire hazards, structurally unstable and costly to clean up, stretching already strained small-town budgets.In the RM of Riding Mountain West, the costs are quickly adding up, says Reeve Grant Boryskavich. The municipality co-sponsored the resolution with Brandon and Thompson.Some cleanups have uncovered asbestos and other hazards that push municipal costs between $50,000 to $100,000 after remediation, testing and transporting waste to certified landfills.The resolution passed “pretty unanimously” because many communities are facing the same challenges, Boryskavich says, noting the problem has always existed, but is getting worse with red tape, cost-of-living pressures and new environmental rules.“People are learning that if you leave it in tax sale, the taxpayers have to pay, clean it up and pay for it instead of them,” Boryskavich said. “To a bunch of municipalities and probably everybody in the province that’s just wrong.”This year, the derelict building cleanup bills in the RM came to about $40,000, though in past years they’ve climbed as high as $150,000, Boryskavich says, adding that money comes at the expense of infrastructure, roads and recreation. Abandoned but not forgottenA building or house can become derelict for many reasons, Boryskavich says: a death, an out-of-province owner, or someone holding multiple properties and neglecting one. “They just leave it. The grass isn’t cut, the buildings fall apart, there’s no siding on them, the windows fall out,” Boryskavich said.He says they often become fire hazards, are a health concern and are linked to crime.“If you have a derelict property or something that isn’t worth value I think … some of the shadier people in life might want to buy that, use it as a drug house,” Boryskavich said.Glenda Lemcke, CAO of the RM of Riding Mountain West, says the costs add up fast for small communities — even without including staff and law-enforcement time.“We’re all just asking for the same tools, some way to deal with it that doesn’t cost the rest for the ratepayers exorbitant amounts of money,” Lemcke said.Brandon bylaw reduces firesBrandon created a bylaw targeting derelict buildings in 2023. Fire chief Terry Parlow says the city has seen a significant decrease in problem properties, especially when it comes to fires. The bylaw lets the city board up buildings faster, forces owners to pay fees, or knock the buildings down entirely, Parlow says. They’ve even seen success stories where people have reinvested in areas that were once abandoned.“It [the resolution] actually may be a mechanism for us to offset some of the costs, whether it be our municipality or another municipality offsetting those costs, because we know that they’re there and helping to actually rid them … and also maybe even redevelop those properties.”Mayor Jeff Fawcett says the bylaw has helped with health and safety in Brandon because they’ve been able to address problems before they get bigger.However, it can get expensive for municipalities tackling and reclaiming abandoned properties, especially for million-dollar projects, Fawcett says. He hopes the province can come up with legislation to keep property owners accountable.Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett says he would like to see the province help reclaim abandoned properties so they can be used for housing. (Chelsea Kemp/CBC)Right now, he says, the city spends about $10,000 a year on derelict buildings.“They’re just sitting … does the province have anything that they can do to work with us to have these add value to the community versus just sitting there,” Fawcett said.Fawcett wants the province to work with municipalities to see whether such properties can be redeveloped into housing, or if it makes more sense to demolish them.“All communities have them, it is just a matter of scale,” Fawcett said. “Having the province work with us on a few of these things would be really, really good.”ABOUT THE AUTHORChelsea Kemp is a multimedia journalist with CBC Manitoba. She is based in CBC’s bureau in Brandon, covering stories focused on rural Manitoba. Share your story ideas, tips and feedback with chelsea.kemp@cbc.ca.
Municipalities call on province to help tackle rising cost of derelict buildings
