Two-thousand public rental suites vacant due to low repair budget

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This article was published 03/01/2024 (651 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

More than 2,000 publicly owned, subsidized rental units across Manitoba are unoccupied amid a housing and homelessness crisis, with advocates blaming measly repair budgets for the vacancies.

As many as 1,090 Winnipeg-area apartments and units owned by Manitoba Housing were vacant as of the end of December, the provincial government said.

In other parts of the province, 1,000 suites were vacant.

“The vacancies are never due to a lack of demand,” said Christina Maes Nino, executive director of the Manitoba Non-Profit Housing Association, whose members provide over 24,000 units of affordable housing, including at Manitoba Housing properties that are managed by non-profits through funding agreements.

“The reason why units are vacant is because they may need significant repairs, or they may need minor repairs, and the money to make those repairs simply isn’t in the budget in a given year,” said Maes Nino. “So, a unit sits vacant longer than it should.”

Manitoba Housing has approximately 18,000 units, 14,300 of which it directly manages and another 3,700 are managed by non-profit partners.

It’s not unusual for Manitoba Housing to have upwards of 1,000 units vacant at a given time.

In 2021, the corporation reported having about 1,800 vacant units, and as of March 2022, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives-Manitoba reported the number of vacant units at in excess of 1,000.

Maes Nino said Manitoba Housing has been chronically underfunded, which means suites that need to be refurbished often remain vacant until money becomes available to complete repairs.

“Their ability to repair units when there’s vacancies, when there’s turnover — but even just general modernization that you would expect of housing that was built in the 1970s and ’80s — their ability to do that has been limited,” said Maes Nino, who noted that improving units can also take them off the market in the short term.

“The reason why units are vacant is because they may need significant repairs, or they may need minor repairs, and the money to make those repairs simply isn’t in the budget in a given year … So, a unit sits vacant longer than it should.”–Christina Maes Nino

The CCPA-Manitoba’s social housing action plan, which was published in September, estimated it may cost up to $1.5 billion to preserve the province’s existing social housing stock.

The report’s authors recommended Manitoba establish a capital maintenance fund to bring existing buildings up to standard and to repair damaged, vacant units within one year.

The report also found Manitoba needs at least 10,000 new social housing units to meet existing demand.

End Homelessness Winnipeg, meanwhile, reports as many as 475 people were considered chronically homeless as of November 2023, and more than 5,700 people accessed emergency shelters over the past 12 months.

The organization’s 2022 street census encountered as many as 1,256 people who were homeless.

Of the roughly 1,100 vacant Manitoba Housing units in Winnipeg, 871 are undergoing repairs and will be made available for tenancy “as soon as possible,” a provincial spokesperson said in a statement to the Free Press. Most of the studio and one-bedroom suites are located in central Winnipeg.

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The average turnover at Manitoba Housing properties is about 74 units per month, which the spokesperson described as significant.

“Some larger complexes have been undergoing repair and maintenance projects and security upgrades that are now ready to be turned over for tenanting,” they said.

Although repair plans are “always acted on immediately,” the time needed to get the job done depends on the scope of work and availability of contractors.

The average time to complete repairs ranges from 45 days to three months, depending on what’s needed, according to the province.

Right to Housing Coalition provincial chair Kirsten Bernas said Manitoba cannot afford to have a single unit sitting vacant and waiting for repairs.

“We expect to see provincial investments in the upcoming budget to bring existing units online,” Bernas said. “Manitoba needs to invest $1.5 billion over 10 years to protect our existing social housing supply and ensure we don’t fall farther behind.”

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham welcomed the news that more than 800 social housing units are being repaired and may soon be available.

The mayor has made addressing homelessness and the shortage of affordable housing in Winnipeg a top priority for 2024.

“There’s such a shortage of housing right now that there’s a real need to get every unit possible online and get people living in housing,” Gillingham said.

Gillingham said he’s met with Housing Minister Bernadette Smith and he wants to be a full partner with the province on ending chronic homelessness. Any assistance Manitoba Housing may need related to permits, renovations or developments, the city is ready to help, he said.

“Manitoba needs to invest $1.5 billion over 10 years to protect our existing social housing supply and ensure we don’t fall farther behind.”–Kirsten Bernas

“There’s a general understanding across all levels of government, right now that there’s a real need for housing for all segments of society,” Gillingham said. “Across Canada, there’s a housing shortage in every major city in our nation. We need housing, we need as much housing built as quickly as possible.”

The NDP government has promised to end chronic homelessness in two terms, or eight years. Last month, Smith announced a $2.8-million plan to make 250 rental units with wrap-around social supports available to people experiencing homelessness or who are precariously housed.

The new units were to be a combination of Manitoba Housing and private-market rentals. As of Friday, 40 suites were in “the process of being made available in Winnipeg,” the province said.

In Brandon, 14 people have been housed through the initiative.

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Smith was not available for an interview on Wednesday. Instead, a statement was issued on her behalf that did not directly address questions about the number of vacant Manitoba Housing units.

“We created a specific department to solve the crisis of chronic homelessness in communities across Manitoba. This was one of the key commitments in our election campaign, an issue close to my heart and critically important to the premier and our team,” Smith said.

“The former government let public housing fall into disrepair (by) selling off social housing and slashing the budget for maintenance and repairs. We have committed to ending chronic homelessness over two terms, and we are already taking important steps to meet this goal and find our relatives homes.”

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca