Affordable housing a stone’s throw away

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/02/2025 (212 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Anyone who spends time in Winnipeg can see the desperate need for housing in our community. The situation those experiencing homelessness face in our harsh climate is wrong and it is dire. According to the National Right to Housing Network, encampments have grown significantly over the last five years as they provide a sense of security, warmth, and community to those experiencing homelessness.

The Granite Curling Club is no stranger to this phenomenon — there was an active encampment just west of the Granite until it was dismantled very recently.

We have started a new campaign called Granite Members for Affordable Housing, and are collecting signatures from members in favour of the City of Winnipeg’s proposed housing development on the Granite’s west parking lot. We started this campaign in response to the Granite executive’s characterization of the housing development as an “existential threat to the future of the club.” Granite Members for Affordable Housing do not see it this way. We believe that a common solution can be found that can both see the construction of mixed income housing on this city-owned land and also ensure the future viability of the curling club.

We have been heartened to learn that many who love to curl at the Granite are in favour of the housing development. The feedback we have received is that many Granite members do not want our curling club to act against the best interests of our most vulnerable neighbours, the West Broadway neighbourhood, and the club itself. A new development to house families adds to the vibrancy, density, and safety of the neighbourhood.

Imagine it — mixed income housing to one side of the Granite, and the Beer Can to the other! This is the curling club that we want to be a part of.

We are confident that a solution can be found that ensures the future viability of the club.

The Granite Curling Club is located across the street from a sea of parking at the Canada Life Building. This large surface parking lot is available to Canada Life employees in the day but largely vacant in the evenings and weekends when most curling leagues play. It is not difficult to see a common sense solution to lost parking spots through collaborative conversations with the city and Canada Life.

We see this as an opportunity for the club to secure the best deal possible with the city, who state they are also committed to ensuring the long term viability of the club.

We understand that revenue generated by this housing development would provide an annuity to help maintain the Granite Curling Club, a heritage property and important piece of civic infrastructure. We also understand that this annuity will be enough to replace the revenue that the Granite was receiving from Canada Life’s use of the west parking lot.

We are relying on the city to keep up their end of the deal.

The sport of curling, which we love, does indeed face existential threats, but these threats are not due to parking inconveniences.

Curling clubs across Canada are closing because they have struggled to find ways of welcoming new curlers to the sport from groups who have traditionally not found a home in our curling club.

If the Granite executive is interested in the long-term viability of the club, they would be excited to welcome our new neighbours into our club to eat, drink, and enjoy the sport that has given so many of us joy and community.

Time is of the essence. The proposed housing development is part of a larger strategy to drastically increase housing options through the Housing Accelerator Fund.

This funding program, and subsequent projects, are at risk in the approaching federal election, as the Conservative Party has vowed to scrap the program. We are in an important, and somewhat rare, moment where a social and economic crisis is being met with a clear political solution. It is an opportunity that none of us can afford to squander. The housing crisis requires all hands on deck — even the hands of curlers, apparently!

For the future viability of the club, we are pleading with the Granite executive to end their resistance to this development. To quote one member of our fledgling curling team, “the only thing we keep out of houses is curling rocks.”

Jess Klassen is a member of Granite Members for Affordable Housing and is a mediocre curler.