CentreVenture expected to focus on downtown housing with new mandate, money

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This article was published 07/02/2024 (617 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s downtown development agency is set to receive an injection of public money as city council debates giving CentreVenture a new mandate — and more than a half-million dollars — to deliver needed housing.

The 2024 preliminary budget tabled Wednesday calls for the city to set aside operating funding for the arms-length corporation to focus on housing in Winnipeg’s core.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said the initial operating budget for CentreVenture is set at $600,000.

“They’re going to play a very key role in our downtown recovery and I’m very excited about their future mandate,” Gillingham said.

The proposed mandate is expected to be debated by councillors soon.

Federal cash provided to the city through the Housing Accelerator Fund is included in the city’s 2024-2027 plan, but is not fully allocated pending further development and approval of a program budget, according to the spending blueprint.

CentreVenture did not return a Free Press request for comment Wednesday.

The budget also calls for increased spending on programming in downtown Winnipeg.

The Downtown Winnipeg BIZ is getting a $110,000 boost to its grant to cover costs for cleaning Winnipeg Transit shelters and the downtown streetscape.

Gillingham said the increased grant will be funded, in part, by a one percentage point increase to the city’s accommodation tax on hotel and motel rooms and short-term rentals, which is currently at five per cent.

Revenue from that increase will also fund a grant for Economic Development Winnipeg and flow into the city’s Destination Marketing Reserve Fund, to pay for future capital works for the Winnipeg Convention Centre, according to budget documents.

The accommodation tax will also support landscaping, litter collection and public-safety expenses. Another $500,000 is being allocated for Economic Development Winnipeg’s special event marketing fund, to attract more events and conferences to the city.

“They’re going to play a very key role in our downtown recovery and I’m very excited about their future mandate”–Mayor Scott Gillingham

“The increased revenue will go to invest in some of the initiatives that businesses in the downtown have been calling for,” Gillingham said.

“It’s not just all kind of going into the big pot that is the city budget. A lot of it is going specifically to investments that downtown property owners, businesses have been calling for.”

Manitoba Hotel Association president Michael Juce said the accommodation tax increase comes at time when hoteliers are saddled with increased operating costs and are still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Directing some of that funding to general revenues is also a concern, he said.

“Opening it up to tax-supported revenue, it’s less of a direct link to that end goal of when it was first introduced,” he said. “It’s further away from that original intent of that accommodation tax.”

On Wednesday, Downtown BIZ executive director Kate Fenske welcomed the increased support, saying cleaning costs have been outpacing operating grant revenue in recent years. However, the renewed focus on downtown programming and the new proposed mandate for CentreVenture are major highlights coming out of the budget, she said.

“That is absolutely critical,” Fenske said. “When we look at the transformation of our downtown, we know we need to grow the residential population here. We know it’s complicated to develop downtown, but there is a real need and a desire for more housing here.”

Fenske said she is still waiting to find out how much money will be dedicated to downtown Winnipeg through the federal Housing Accelerator Fund, but she expects CentreVenture will be instrumental in bringing partners together for residential development, and the operating funding is a first step.

“CentreVenture really has the ability to move projects forward that otherwise wouldn’t happen on their own,” she said.

“When we look at the transformation of our downtown, we know we need to grow the residential population here. We know it’s complicated to develop downtown, but there is a real need and a desire for more housing here.”–Downtown BIZ executive director Kate Fenske

The preliminary budget also includes $500,000 for a new Downtown Arts Capital Fund to assist major art institutions and another $150,000 grant for youth recreation programs at the Downtown YMCA-YWCA.

“We talk often about youth violence in our downtown, now we have a partnership for youth recreation programming,” Gillingham said.

Another $360,000 is budgeted for permanent and temporary washrooms across the city, including in the downtown. Municipal funding for the Downtown Community Safety Partnership is maintained at $250,000 per year.

The city also intends to spend $4.3 million on downtown parks between 2026 and 2029.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca