City applauded for affordable housing plan

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This article was published 11/02/2022 (1347 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NEW grants to entice the creation of affordable housing units could soon be available in Winnipeg.

A proposed tax increment financing policy aims to support the construction of 1,500 affordable housing units in the city, while setting other key development targets, pending council approval.

The pandemic has exacerbated the need for lower-cost housing options, said Coun. Cindy Gilroy, who leads council’s property and development committee.

“We just have to look around downtown to know how important that it is that we create affordable housing here in Winnipeg,” said Gilroy.

In recent months, many vulnerable Winnipeggers have sought shelter in bus shacks or encampments.

The proposed grants would refund up to 80 per cent of the municipal portion of property taxes for eligible affordable housing projects. That benefit would also apply to heritage building restoration and rehabilitation projects; economic development initiatives (such as the redevelopment of downtown surface parking lots and brownfield sites); and “transformative developments.”

Brownfield sites are defined as former commercial sites that could require groundwater and/or soil remediation, while transformative developments are those that improve significant private buildings or public infrastructure in a targeted area.

The affordable housing tax breaks would last up to 25 years for downtown and “housing improvement zone” projects. Non-profit projects that house vulnerable people outside those areas would get the same extended tax break, while the credit would last up to 15 years for other projects outside the target areas.

Gilroy said the citywide scope for the financing would prevent low-income residents from being forced to live in a limited number of neighbourhoods.

To be eligible for the housing grants, at least 30 per cent of a project’s rental units must have rents set at less than 80 per cent of the median market rate.

An organization that aims to provide affordable homes to low-income tenants welcomed the proposal.

“When you are building affordable housing units, especially apartment buildings, the process of cobbling together money and funding and making the numbers work is, frankly, a bit of a nightmare. So anything that the city does to bring down the cost per unit at all is hugely valuable,” said Mary Agnes Welch, chairwoman of the board for the Westminster Housing Society.

Welch said the grants would help ensure a project is viable at reduced rents.

The policy would provide up to $50 million worth of grants for affordable housing, including $20 million earmarked for downtown. Another $20 million worth of grants would be available to support economic development initiatives and heritage buildings.

Tax breaks would last up to 25 years for some “transformative developments,” or up to 10 years for all other categories.

Transformative developments must involve a minimum of $100 million of capital investment, which could include a redevelopment of the downtown Hudson Bay Building or the Portage Place Mall.

“When we have empty buildings, it’s not good for any of us. So (this is about) making sure that they’re filled, it’s making sure that people are living down there, it’s making sure that we have businesses that can also succeed in our downtown,” said Gilroy.

While the plan would see council waive considerable tax dollars, the head of council’s finance committee noted it would still create some tax revenue, along with developments that may otherwise not get built.

“This policy has to (consider) the broader needs of investment to transform the city and to transform the city’s downtown,” said Coun. Scott Gillingham.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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