Landlord Paul Ehmann told CBC News he has virtually no money and he's saddened by the eviction controversy. (CBC)

The Regina landlord who's at the centre of a recent eviction controversy says he may have made mistakes, but he was only trying to help disadvantaged people.

On Monday, 23 tenants were evicted from a downtown Regina building co-owned by Paul Ehmann due to fire code violations and other problems.

The building at 2060 Halifax St. was a former office building that had previously been the home of Harvard Broadcasting before being rented out as apartments.

'Saddened' by reports

Ehmann said he missed seeing the initial news reports showing evicted tenants outside in -20 C temperatures, but he got caught up later and decided to "sit down and answer a few questions."

'One particular fellow said ...'Paul, I've been sleeping under the Albert Street Bridge.' That just hit a soft spot in me.'—Landlord Paul Ehmann

Some of the tenants who were forced out said they had already paid rent to Ehmann's company and were hoping to get their money back.

"I'm saddened ... that it has come to this," Ehmann said in an interview with CBC News.

"My intentions weren't to be and do the things I'm accused of."

Ehmann agreed that the units were not properly renovated and lacked kitchens, washrooms and other amenities, saying that "limited resources" prevented him from doing a better job.

Lack of money also prevents him from paying back the tenants, he said.

"I've been doing what I've been doing with virtually no money," he said.

When some low-income people approached him about needing a place to stay, he reluctantly agreed they could be tenants at the Halifax office building, he said.

"One particular fellow said ...'Paul, I've been sleeping under the Albert Street Bridge.' That just hit a soft spot in me," he said.

Every one of the tenants staying in the building knew they were taking it "as is," he said.

Lender wants his money

Larry Sydor, a local businessman who's a part owner of the building but hasn't been involved in operating it, said he heard about the evictions and he's not pleased.

"I just got there on [Dec. 4] and was knocked off my chair when I found out that Paul wasn't adhering to the rules of our agreement and there wasn't even fire insurance on that building," he said. "I had no idea there were 23 people living in there in those conditions."

Almost three years ago, Sydor loaned $400,000 to Ehmann, with the building as security, but he's still waiting for payment.

"This loan was supposed to be a one-year loan and it's been ... almost three years," Sydor said.

Sydor now has a court judgment which means that in less than a week the building will be in foreclosure and put up for sale.

The building is worth around $650,000, but there are more than $900,000 worth of liens against it.

Complaints made to agency

Meanwhile, there have been complaints about Ehmann as a landlord before.

In 2006, he was reprimanded and fined $5,000 by the Saskatchewan Real Estate Commission for professional misconduct after improperly trying to evict a tenant from another commercial property.

Ehmann, who has been in the real estate business since 1981, owns a contracting company called By Design Homes and a real estate company called Countrywide Executive Realty.

He owns a number of rental properties in Regina. All of them are now the subject of a City of Regina investigation, city officials have told CBC.