Manitoba changes funding for non-profit housing

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This article was published 17/03/2024 (584 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba government has introduced a new funding model for non-profit housing operators that will stop housing projects from being sold to the private sector without due process.

The model is intended to provide non-profits with predictable and stable funding based on a new evaluation formula. Approximately 8,500 social and community-based housing units will be eligible for subsidies under the model.

“Strengthening supports for the non-profit housing sector is critical to achieving our government’s goal of ending chronic homelessness. In situations like the one with Lions Place under the previous government, we see how seniors are impacted by a loss in affordable housing,” Housing Minister Bernadette Smith said in a release.

The former Lions Place apartment building at 610 Portage Ave. was built in the 1980s by Lions Housing Centres with financing from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. to provide affordable homes for seniors.

Lions Housing Corp. paid off the $13.5-million mortgage, but its funding agreement with the province wasn’t renewed in 2018 — under the Tories — and it sold the complex to Mainstreet Equity Corp. for a reported $24 million in 2023.

Amid the controversy, the Manitoba government stepped in to provide $1.2 million in subsidies over a two-year period to cover rent increases for seniors who lived in the building prior to its sale and conversion to a for-profit apartment.

Last year, then-Progressive Conservative families minister Rochelle Squires said the government was developing a new non-profit housing funding model and was looking at legislative changes to protect other properties from being sold to for-profit companies.

“This new funding model will ensure organizations have the necessary resources to continue providing housing for seniors and families at affordable, sustainable rates,” Smith said.

Subsidies under the new model will be paid through the federal government’s Canada Community Housing Initiative and the total amount available to operators will be announced in the NDP government’s budget April 2.

The initiative is intended to protect and expand social and community housing units that have expiring or recently expired operating agreements.

Under the new model, housing providers have the flexibility to address the needs of their entire portfolio through monthly subsidies to cover operating and capital expenses without raising rents.

Subsidy recipients will be unable to unilaterally assign or transfer their agreement, which will prevent non-profit buildings from being sold to the private sector without due process, a release stated.

“The non-profit sector welcomes a new and modern funding model that will allow them to repair and maintain the homes while keeping rents affordable for seniors, families, and individuals who need them most,” said Christina Maes Nino, executive director of the Manitoba Non-Profit Housing Association.

— Staff