Nonprofit pushes for cleanup at former Sutherland Hotel site to advance affordable housing plan

Questions remain about what’s going to happen on the site of the Sutherland Hotel one year after a fire tore through the building.

One year after Winnipeg’s historic Sutherland Hotel went up in flames, the head of a non-profit that was a week away from closing a deal on the property before it burned is pushing for the city to clean up the debris.

Keith Gordon, executive director of Anhart Affordable Housing, said he would like to build a 69-unit facility for affordable housing and social supports on the land. However, he said remnants of the structure on the site is impeding that plan.

“We have a property that has debris, and it needs remediation, and there’s a very high cost to that, and so that has to be worked out,” Gordon said on Thursday next to the site.

“We’re not going to let another year go by. We’re going to have action right now,” he said, joined with a group of supporters.

Gordon said he met with city officials just over a year ago to see how the nonprofit could help with the hotel, which was vacant at the time.

“The suggestion is that we would work with some of the older hotels and repurpose them for people experiencing homelessness,” he said.

Gordon said the nonprofit made an offer to purchase the building for $470,000 in January 2025, but said the fire happened as the deal was being finalized.

The hotel, which dated to the 1880s, was damaged by a fire on January 15 last year and was subjected to an emergency demolition.

READ MORE: ‘Sutherland Hotel expected to be total loss following fire’

Still, Gordon said he’d like to close the deal for the site and build affordable housing on the lot.

He said the nonprofit has had success with similar buildings elsewhere in Canada to reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness.

“It really helps with shelters and transitional housing, because what’s typical across Canada, and is typical in Winnipeg, is people get struck in transitional housing and they can’t ever get to more permanent housing.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for the city said it would need more time to provide further details about the property.

“We can share that the city does have funding programs under the Housing Accelerator Fund that provide grant funding to developers to support new affordable housing projects. This property is not currently funded under any of those programs,” the statement reads.

-With files from CTV’s Michelle Gerwing and Will Reimer