Lot shortage threatens home-building boom

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/01/2004 (8177 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

AFTER a record-breaking year in sales of new homes, Winnipeg builders are warning that they’ll soon run out of places to put them.

Wayne Bollman, president of the Manitoba Home Builders Association, said the frenzied activity has meant builders will run out of serviced lots in three southwest neighbourhoods by this fall.

Winnipeg’s new housing market boom, which hit a 14-year high in 2003, has meant availability of serviced lots in Richmond West, Whyte Ridge and Linden Woods is drying up this year, rather than in two to four years, as originally expected, said Bollman.

“We have an urgency to bring on serviced land in the southwest quadrant,” he said.

“The demand is such that the issue has suddenly accelerated.”

There are 400 vacant lots left in the three neighbourhoods that are connected to the city’s water and utility services, Bollman said.

He said the way to address this shortage is to speed up a proposed plan to service new lots for 13,000 to 15,000 homes in Waverley West in southwest Winnipeg. Bollman is hoping construction can begin by November 2005 in the 3,000-acre area bordered by Brady Road and Waverley Street, south of the Perimeter Highway.

Bollman said if Winnipeggers can’t find homes in their neighbourhood of choice, they are likely to move outside city limits, resulting in a loss of population and tax revenue.

But the development of the large area could bring up to $2 billion in revenue for city tax revenue, the building sector and surrounding businesses, said Henry Bos, director of corporate services for the Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corporation.

Bos said 450 homes in the $170,000 to $600,000 price range were built in the three affected neighbourhoods during the past year alone.

Developing the Waverley West area will require an amendment to the city’s land-use planning document to change the legal designation of the land from rural to neighbourhood.

The city’s property and development department is working on a recommendation for a first reading of the amendment at city council, said senior planner Jacquie East.

East agreed that the need to develop Waverley West is a priority, despite the fact that many environmentalists have opposed the development, calling it urban sprawl.

“We do have the demand for these lots and the supply in that area is less than it should be,” said East.

But she said the plan can only go forward when its exact cost and benefits to the city are explored in-depth.

The department must also attend to housing developments in the downtown area and fill in demolished houses and vacant lots in the inner city to maintain a diverse housing market, she added.

East said that the goal of starting building in November 2005 is possible, but the process of passing the necessary bylaw can’t be rushed.

Bos said that the entire amendment process usually takes seven to nine months, including city council readings, public hearings and provincial approval stages.

There are now about 7,000 homes in Richmond West, Linden Woods and Whyte Ridge.