Province suspends sale of 19 public housing properties

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This article was published 08/12/2023 (676 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Several Manitoba Housing properties that were recommended to be sold under the former Progressive Conservative government, have been temporarily taken off the market.

Housing Minister Bernadette Smith said her office has paused the sale of 19 properties, which have a combined 35 units. Some of them had prospective buyers lined up.

“We know that Manitobans across the province need access to affordable and social housing,” the minister said in a prepared statement explaining the pause.

As many as 168 Manitoba Housing properties have been sold since 2016, when the PCs formed government, the province said Friday.

That year the Crown corporation adopted an ‘asset repurposing policy’ to guide how chronically vacant and underused units could be sold, demolished or repurposed, and to reduce the overall number of surplus or vacant units.

Smith said property sales have been put on hold while the policy is reviewed to ensure it aligns with the NDP government’s mandate to provide Manitobans the housing they need.

The policy directed Manitoba Housing to offer properties to other departments and partner agencies, or for purchase by First Nations, municipalities and community organizations, before going to the public market.

It also allowed for units to be sold to Manitoba Housing tenants and to low-income households through a rural homeownership program.

Six of the 19 properties recommended for sale were part of that program and seven had buyers interested at the time sales efforts were paused, the province said.

Addresses for the buildings were not provided; however, just one of the properties is located in Winnipeg.

The province said addresses are not usually released if they are detached homes or residential buildings with four units or less, so as not to identify Manitoba Housing tenants.

The PCs declined to weigh in on the government’s decision to halt the sale of 35 units. Without addresses and other details, the PCs could not comment about why the properties were recommended for sale, a spokesman said.

Right to Housing Coalition provincial chair Kirsten Bernas applauded the NDP government for backing down on selling the units, at least in the near term.

“It’s the right thing to do,” said Bernas. “For us, as a coalition, we don’t want to see Manitoba Housing lose any more of its public housing assets. We have a severe shortage of social housing in Manitoba right now.”

The coalition advocates for government investment in social housing and has called on the government to add as many as 1,000 rent-geared-to-income units annually for the next 10 years to meet existing demand.

During the recent election campaign, the coalition issued a housing action plan and urged parties to maintain and improve Manitoba’s current public housing units.

“We really can’t afford to be selling off our social housing and losing stock when we desperately need to add new units,” Bernas said.

At the time, the NDP pledged to increase the supply of social housing and affordable units, but did not commit to the coalition’s target if 10,000 units over 10 years.

The party, which defeated the PCs in the Oct. 3 election, has promised to end chronic homelessness in two terms and has acknowledged it will need buy-in from the private and non-profit sector to supply units.

As the policy is still under review, the NDP could not say Friday if the government will continue to sell Manitoba Housing units.

“Our government is committed to ending chronic homelessness and providing affordable social housing to Manitobans,” Smith said.

To date, Bernas said the coalition has been encouraged by what it has seen from the new government, and it hopes to see the NDP make existing public housing stock a priority in its first budget.

“The coalition will be encouraging government to make sure that that budget includes a long-term plan for expanding our social housing supply, and in a way that creates net new units,” Bernas said.

“We need to know what the plan is so that we don’t lose any more social housing units, whether that’s through the sale of units or through a reduction in the quality of the stock.”

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca