City looks at combining lots for affordable housing

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This article was published 31/01/2025 (263 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The City of Winnipeg could soon combine three properties to attract affordable housing, while pinpointing several additional sites where more units could be built.

A new proposal would allow the city’s chief administrative officer to acquire two privately owned properties to add to an adjacent city-owned lot at 395 Pacific Ave. to create a larger building site for those homes, if city council approves.

“We want to make sure people have a place to live. Our vacancy rate is extremely low… If we build more units, the pricing of those units should come down over time,” said Coun. Evan Duncan (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood), chair of council’s property and development committee.

The two private lots to the east of 395 Pacific include one unaddressed site owned by Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corp. and a 385 Pacific Ave. lot owned by Winnipeg Habitat for Humanity. The city is in discussions to buy those lots for a combined $3 and sell the enlarged property for $1 to support an affordable housing development.

That development would offer at least 30 per cent of its units at a maximum rent of 80 per cent of the median market rate.

However, a housing advocate said the city confirmed it will seek non-profit housing developers to provide the lowest rents possible.

“Although the report to the city has their standard affordability requirements, it’s my understanding… (the developers) are going to be accessing other funding to make them more affordable,” said Christina Maes Nino, executive director of the Manitoba Non-Profit Housing Association.

Maes Nino said setting higher minimum affordability requirements could risk preventing applicants who can’t secure additional government support from moving forward with projects.

She said the current requirements could also help get projects approved quickly, to make the most of Winnipeg’s share of the federal Housing Accelerator Fund.

The federal Liberal government has promised $122 million of HAF funds for Winnipeg. To date, the city has received about half of that amount.

With a federal election on the horizon, payments expected in December 2025 and December 2026 are now at risk.

Maes Nino said there’s a great need for “deeply affordable” rents, often about $900 per month or less, among Winnipeggers with the lowest incomes.

Duncan agreed the deeply discounted rates are needed.

“In my neck of the woods… even if it’s 80 per cent (of market rate), it’s still wildly expensive… I think we need to identify more deeply affordable (rates) so that those that are working to one day own a home or a condo or …. just to pay rent, can actually do so without struggling to pay for groceries,” said Duncan.

The Pacific Avenue lots are part of a broader effort to declare city-owned properties surplus to free them up for additional affordable housing projects. Overall, the city’s CAO has declared seven city-owned properties surplus to seek additional affordable housing, including 395 Pacific Ave., 22 Granite Way, 825 Tache Ave., 795 William Ave., 425 Osborne St., 1350 Pembina Hwy., and 545-569 Watt St.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said the proposal shows the city has made progress on the matter.

The mayor said it’s not clear how many housing units could be added at the designated lots.

“The goal, obviously, is to get these built as quickly as possible,” said Gillingham.

During his 2022 election campaign, the mayor promised to waive fees and preapprove zoning changes to build modular homes to combat homelessness, using six city-owned or purchased sites. At the time, Gillingham set a target to build 270 such homes by the end of 2023.

The mayor said that promise is still being pursued, though it’s separate from the current proposal and final sites are still being determined to build those homes.

Richard Mahé, the city’s Housing Accelerator Fund acting manager, said the city is working with the province and Habitat for Humanity to produce units with the lowest rents possible at the three Pacific Avenue lots.

“Each of us on our own would have a hard time developing our lands individually, given the (small) size of our lots… But if we (pool) our resources together, we can certainly do more on these properties,” said Mahé.

When asked whether the city has a buyer for Pacific Avenue lots, he told reporters to “stay tuned.”

Meanwhile, the city report notes the 395 Pacific property is designated as parkland, so it would require a two-thirds vote of council to sell.

Duncan said the site is vacant and offers little value as a green space.

“Some people have expressed concerns about it being parkland but it is not (really) parkland. There is a park adjacent to it, but this is an undeveloped city lot,” he said.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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