REGINA - Danial Margeson and his family have been dealing with excessive amounts of garbage on the property they are renting out for years now.
This all started when the new tenants at the property next door moved in.
At first, "it wasn't so bad," said Margeson. However, "[it] got progressively worse to the point, like they [even] started putting garbage like up against the house."
Margeson asked his neighbours to clean up the garbage, but they refused.
The situation started getting out of hand for Margeson. We had to start over [the inside of the home] last year because we got cockroaches from the garbage from the neighbour's house."
Margeson admitted clearing away memorable items made him cry, which he said never happens.
"[My] family memories [and] all the stuff that we moved in [with] from out of province [is now] gone. It's infuriating."
Frustrated by this, he pointed out, "at the end of the day, I'm like [the one getting] screwed, and I'm the one forking out the bill for the cockroaches."
Not only has the garbage created challenges inside the home, but Margeson also said he can’t play with his children outside of the property.
"It's hard to want to play with the kids in like the backyard or the front yard or like just anywhere for that matter because the city is so disgusting that you don't know if there's going to be a hidden needle somewhere."
Margeson doesn’t have the option to move out, as his family is on income from the Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability Program (SAID).
For his monthly income, the family receives under $2,000, with $950 going towards their rent.
Most two or three-bedroom apartments are out of their price range, and Margeson himself has a support cat, which wouldn't be allowed in most properties due to pet restrictions.
Taking Action
Dealing with all these issues, Margeson has reached out to different resources around the city with little luck.
"It's just mind-boggling. I've done everything that I could possibly do as a civilian to take the proper channels to deal with this."
Margeson later clarified that the City of Regina has taken the initiative to clear away the garbage from the property, but that has only been a short-term fix.
Regina has been dealing with a garbage problem for years now, particularly in North Central and Heritage.
This led to former city councillors Dan LeBlanc and Andrew Stevens putting forward a motion in 2021, calling for city administration to find ways to increase fines for landlords.
In 2022, city council officially passed the clean communities motion. Following initial warnings, a property owner could face fines of $150 for a first offence, $200 for a second and $250 for a third offence.
With these fines, Margeson said, "It does not do anything,” He added, "it is just literally a money grab at that point."
The motion was also aimed at targeting slumlords, who rent out a property but don’t maintain it.
From Margeson’s understanding, the property owner of the home next door lives out of province and has no caretaker to manage the site. He’s been trying to find the person’s contact information but has had no luck.
"I feel like a resident should be able to call a landlord and just show them pictures of what’s going on."
With the garbage dumping continuing, Margeson feels it would make more sense for the property owner to kick the tenants out rather than deal with more fines.
He also believes Regina needs harsher penalties for excessive garbage dumping.
"I feel like it should not only be a fine, but potentially some like jail time even [for] like 30 days [or] like two weeks."
When asked if increasing the fines to around a thousand dollars would make a difference, Margeson said, "yes."
He’s planning on discussing his issues with city council and hoping further changes can be made.
