Highrise sale to benefit Rent Assist

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This article was published 29/05/2018 (3007 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba government is using most of the proceeds from the sale of a downtown social housing highrise to support its Rent Assist program.

Families Minister Scott Fielding said Monday the province netted $7.6 million from the sale of 185 Smith St., once debts associated with the building were covered.

Earlier this month, the province revealed it had sold the highrise building to a large residential developer for $16.2 million.

The structure was empty for three years after water pipes burst in the building, flooding the basement and damaging mechanical systems.

The government put the 45-year-old building up for sale after deciding it would be prohibitive to renovate it to current Manitoba Housing standards.

Fielding said the province decided to use the “vast majority” of the net proceeds of the sale to cover more people under Rent Assist, a benefit available to low-income private renters as well as those on social assistance.

One of the program’s goals is to help Employment and Income Assistance recipients access job training and employment.

Fielding said the government has increased funding to Rent Assist by about $10 million over the past two years.

The program now assists close to 3,000 more people than it did two years ago, the minister said Monday.

Fielding said previously that the highrise did not fit the government’s current social housing model of “smaller projects that are better integrated into communities.”

NDP MLA Bernadette Smith said Manitoba needs more social housing, especially with the loss of the 300 units that 185 Smith provided.

“They’re definitely going in the wrong direction,” she said of the Pallister government.

“You need to be investing in housing in Manitoba, so that families have access to affordable housing.”

One social housing advocate suggested earlier this month that proceeds from the sale of the highrise should be used, in part, to restore the reduction in benefit levels to those enrolled in Rent Assist.

Fielding said while the subsidy reduction was a “tough decision” for government to make, Rent Assist still offers similar benefits to comparable programs operated by other provinces.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca