Exclusive: Convicted group home owner ordered evicted from Oshawa home
Posted May 7, 2020 6:00 pm.
Last Updated May 7, 2020 6:44 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A man who has been convicted of operating illegal group homes in Toronto is now using the COVID-19 pandemic to try and stay in business.
Winston Manning and his company, Comfort Residential Homes, is facing more than a dozen fire code violations after being accused of putting vulnerable people in danger at a home he has been renting and using as an illegal group home in Oshawa.
Two weeks ago, during a virtual court hearing, Manning used the current coronavirus pandemic as a reason not to be evicted. But just this week the court ruled “a real and urgent threat to vulnerable residents” outweighed even the threat of the pandemic and ordered him to leave by May 16th.
Court records show the prosecution is asking for jail time in the case with the maximum sentence being one year behind bars.
Manning rented the home in Oshawa about a year ago and the woman who owns the home said she thought a family was moving in. At the time, the house was practically brand new but recent photos she has taken show broken doors, broken fixtures, mouse droppings and evidence of bedbug infestation. She adds one of the tenants told her there is a lock on the fridge door.
Area residents tell CityNews they believe up to 15 people live in the home, many with mental health issues. Neighbours say tenants of the home would knock on their door asking for food and that children would get harassed for cigarettes at a nearby bus stop.
Officials believe Manning collects their disability cheques and charges them $1000 a month.
Manning has a well-documented past when it comes to operating illegal group homes.
In 2018, Manning plead guilty to to multiple fire code violations in relation to several illegal group homes in Toronto. He was fined more than $80,000, put on probation and ordered not to operate any illegal homes.
In 2016, Manning was a key figure in an Ontario Provincial Police probe into illegal group homes. The investigation found that people with physical and mental health issues were living in deplorable conditions: mattresses on the floor, inadequate food, mouse feces and the smell of urine in the homes.
