Changes coming to housing bylaws

Elmwood

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/12/2023 (679 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On Nov. 23, Winnipeg City Council approved changes to a Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) application to be submitted to the federal government. This represents an agreement-in-principle to make zoning changes to qualify for HAF dollars. The suite of zoning changes proposed would make it easier to build homes in established areas with existing infrastructures.

As people who know me will tell you, I am a passionate and outspoken supporter of more multi-family and infill homes. I used a vacation day to go down and present to council in support of these changes. I believe the zoning changes proposed can serve as one pillar in a set of policies we need in Winnipeg to foster smarter growth and reinvestment in mature communities like Elmwood. To provide context for this perspective, however, some background on the HAF is needed.

The HAF is a pool of money, amounting in total to $4 billion, offered to cities on a competitive application process. Cities must commit to making policy changes that remove barriers to building more homes. According to the City of Winnipeg, Winnipeg’s application could result in up to a maximum of $192 million in federal funds for our city.

There was a long process in preparing Winnipeg’s HAF application. Some of it spun off of work already underway since fall of 2022 preparing for a zoning bylaw update. That, in turn, partly built off a campaign promise Mayor Scott Gillingham made.

In late October, the federal Housing Minister suggested three changes Winnipeg could make to improve its HAF application. These were allowing up to four unit homes (“fourplexes”) on a residential lot by-right, legalizing four storey homes by-right within 800 metres of frequent transit, and ensuring residential zoning reforms for commercial corridors allow by-right development to facilitate quicker home building. While agreed-to-in-principle, these changes still need to undergo a formal process with consultation and public hearings over 2024 and into 2025 to be enshrined into bylaw.

Some of these changes are controversial, particularly fourplex zoning. Residential zoning generally functions as a ceiling, not a floor, to what can be built. There are lots currently zoned R2 (“duplex”) with only single family houses on them. Indeed, there are single family ( R1 ) and R2 lots that are vacant, where owners have seen fit to build nothing. Most single family lot owners would not immediately build three additional units or sell their homes just because the maximum allowed changed.