The director of a trust fund that helped underwrite renovations to a downtown Edmonton rooming house — where a man was found dead hanging out of a window — says he was unaware of the building's notoriety as a drug house.

The building flared into public view because of the man's bizarre death, which occurred Sunday night at Wyser Manor.

Rob Martin, the executive director of the Edmonton Housing Trust Fund, said Monday that he did not know of Wyser Manor's drug reputation. He added he only recently became aware of problems in the building after the owner contacted him.

"We just did a site monitor on the project a couple of weeks ago after learning of some damage in some units," Martin said.

Wyser Manor, a 20-unit building, opened in January with renovations that were largely paid for by the Edmonton Housing Trust Fund. The fund invested $925,000, contributed by all three levels of government. 

On Monday, police charged Eugene Michael Falle, 32, with second-degree murder in connection with the death of Shane Chalifoux, 18, at the manor on Sunday. The cause of death will not be released until an autopsy is performed Wednesday.

When police arrived at Wyser Manor Sunday, they discovered the victim hanging head-first out of the window of a third-floor room and another man barricaded inside that same room. That man later crawled out on a ledge and sat there for about 30 minutes before the police arrested him.

Wyser Manor was created as an affordable housing complex but has become a neighbourhood scourge, with nearby residents reporting rowdiness, broken windows and drug dealing.

"You can't even walk by and people are asking you for crack or food or whatever," said Brian Pearson, who lives next door.

Others have reported people entering and leaving the building at all hours.

"I wish the city would come and close that place down," said Greg Yates, another neighbour.  "All it is is a bunch of drug addicts. Mostly drug addicts."

Martin said he will become more diligent regarding the building.

"What we need to do now is make sure we stay on top of seeing that it's properly managed and that it's serving the clients that it's supposed to.  Whatever steps that we need to take, we will be doing. Once we're aware of it, then we need to stay on top of it.  And that's exactly what we intend to do with Wyser Manor."