Some people in Winnipeg’s housing industry beleive the meth crisis is fueling mass destruction inside suites and forcing good tenants out of inner city apartment buildings

CTV News got a first-hand look at what happens when a building gets targeted Monday when it toured a three storey walk-up near the corner of William Avenue and Isabel Street.

There is graffiti on the wall, busted mailboxes, missing fire extinguishers and windows. Behind boarded up walls, Armour Property Management owner Cam McIntyre said a clean-up and renovations are underway after the third floor was taken over last fall.

McIntyre said it’s had up to 30 buildings targeted in Winnipeg inner city within the past two years.

“Mass destruction,” he said. "We've seen the appliances totally removed and sold for scrap out of the suites, the plumbing gets removed and they have no problem with just removing [it] and let it just run down the building."

McIntyre said there is a distinct pattern each time a building is targeted. Drug dealers offer people drugs in exchange for working out of their suite.

"Then they break the lock off so people can come and go in and out of the building as they please, and so then traffic starts to come on a large scale, and then all your tenants are afraid to put in a written complaint because they are afraid for their life," said McIntyre.

Marion Willis is the director of St. Boniface Street Links.

She helps people with addictions transition into the community who need affordable housing.

"In Morberg house you've been very safe, well supported, overcome a lot … and then maybe even get to that place you're not on the system and become employed, but we're finding the pathway, the journey is becoming very challenging,” Willis said.

“They're living in fear now. They no longer feel safe.”

Both Willis and McIntyre said the meth crisis is fueling the pattern.

They said it's easier to evict someone for not paying rent, than remove drug dealers from a building.

McIntrye said he's reached out to all three levels of government for help because the problem is costing him time and money.

"The buildings get identified as problem buildings and we can't get the rents we used to get," McIntyre said.

Manitoba Justice said landlords or tenants who are concerned about illegal drugs, exploitation and related activities should first contact police for a response.

Winnipeg police say it can take days or weeks for a report to be fully addressed.