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Current Issue – February 2025
City looks at combining lots for Affordable Housing
The City of Winnipeg could soon combine three properties to attract affordable housing, while pinpointing several additional sites where more units could be built.
A new proposal would allow the city’s chief administrative officer to acquire two privately owned properties to add to an adjacent city-owned lot at 395 Pacific Ave. to create a larger building site for those homes, if city council approves.
“We want to make sure people have a place to live. Our vacancy rate is extremely low… If we build more units, the pricing of those units should come down over time,” said Coun. Evan Duncan (Charleswood- Tuxedo-Westwood), chair of council’s property and development committee.
The two private lots to the east of 395 Pacific include one unaddressed site owned by Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corp. and a 385 Pacific Ave. lot owned by Winnipeg Habitat for Humanity. The city is in discussions to buy those lots for a combined $3 and sell the enlarged property for $1 to support an affordable housing development.
That development would offer at least 30 per cent of its units at a maximum rent of 80 per cent of the median market rate.
“Although the report to the city has their standard affordability requirements, it’s my understanding… (the developers) are going to be accessing other funding to make them more affordable,” said Christina Maes Nino, executive director of the Manitoba Non-Profit Housing Association.
Maes Nino said setting higher minimum affordability requirements could risk preventing applicants who can’t secure additional government support from moving forward with projects. She said the current requirements could also help get projects approved quickly, to make the most of Winnipeg’s share of the federal Housing Accelerator Fund. Read more