Mayor 2 puts positive spin 3 on city’s less-than-edsfxpected share of federal housing fund

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This article was published 21/11/2024 (303 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The 32 city fsd will receive $122 million in federal government housing money, falling about $70 million shy of the municipal government’s original request.

However, Winnipeg’s mayor stressed the amount is substantial and should leverage millions of dollars of additional investment.

“To my knowledge, this marks the largest contribution the federal government has made directly to the City of Winnipeg for housing programs in our city,” Mayor Scott Gillingham said Wednesday.

The money from the Housing Accelerator Fund is expected to fast-track the construction of 3,166 housing units over the next three years, including about 900 categorized as “affordable.”

Based on Winnipeg’s initial $192-million funding request, a city plan proposed to add 5,277 housing units by September 2026, including 1,342 that would be affordable.

The mayor said he plans to aim for those targets.

“I hope everybody doesn’t think of this as $122 million ‘only.’ Think of what this leverages. Think of how this unlocks substantial private-sector investment and significant not-for-profit sector investment,” said Gillingham.

The mayor has long declared efforts to obtain the federal funds as critical to boosting Winnipeg’s housing supply. In late November, council approved major and controversial zoning changes to support the funding application, following a federal government request.

Critics argued those changes will reduce public input on housing projects, while putting green space and other neighbourhood amenities at risk.

However, federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser said the fund is designed to eliminate rules that can add substantial delays and price hikes that thwart some housing projects.

“The reality when you don’t have enough housing stock is you have serious problems with homelessness. You have young people who choose not to live in your city because they can’t afford housing,” Fraser told the Free Press.

Fraser said the zoning changes are needed to address a national housing crisis and the city was not forced to comply.

“The federal government is within its right to fund the most ambitious reforms that are being proposed,” he said. “It would have been a very legitimate use of municipal authority for the city to say, ‘We don’t want to do this’ and (make) a choice not to move forward with ambitious reforms. They would have risked significant contributions from the federal government,” he said.

Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal agreed the changes are key to expediting construction.

“Canada needs six million new homes by 2030,” said Vandal, MP for Saint Boniface-Saint Vital. “That’s not going to happen by doing the same things we’ve been doing over the last 20 years.”

Under Winnipeg’s new rules, construction of up to four housing units on a single lot, buildings of up to four storeys anywhere within 800 metres of transit corridors and mid-rise housing targeted for mall-area sites and commercial corridors will all be permitted, eliminating the need for public hearings and city committee approvals to complete such projects.

Specific development limits will be set through bylaw changes expected in spring 2025, which will require a public hearing and an additional council vote.

“That will give a lot of opportunity for public engagement,” said Gillingham.

Coun. Brian Mayes said the funding amount shouldn’t shock many city councillors, adding he’d heard the number would be in the $120-million range weeks ago.

“It’s a disappointment but it’s not a surprise,” said Mayes (St. Vital).

Mayes, who voted against the zoning changes, said he remains concerned that council has yet to set a minimum lot size where each fourplex can be built or impose many other limits.

Mayes said he has mixed feelings about the funding.

“What we do have is a shortage of social housing, affordable housing and some of this (money) will help with that.… My frustration was we seem to have completely let the somewhat desperate Trudeau government dictate to us how we’ll do urban planning,” he said.

Mayes said public consultation on the bylaw changes alone won’t compensate for public hearings being eliminated for many individual projects.

“There will be one hearing on a zoning bylaw that will wipe out a whole lot of democratic process,” he said.

The federal funding will support multiple initiatives to attract and ease housing construction in Winnipeg, including: additional “rapid zoning” bylaw amendments; incentive programs for multi-family housing downtown and on corridors; a land enhancement office; a concierge service for affordable housing; digitization of development and permit approvals; and an “infrastructure support” program to improve land servicing and increase residential development.

Gillingham said the land enhancement office will determine which city-owned properties can be deemed surplus to offer housing. The concierge will be a “one-stop shop” for affordable housing proponents to get information, permits and accelerated service, according to city officials.

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