If you help fund affordable housing in Winnipeg, apparently the builders will come.
A City of Winnipeg program was designed to attract new, primarily affordable and downtown housing units this year with $25 million worth of federally funded grants. But the city has now received requests for more than $160 million of grants, far exceeding the budget.
“We thought we’d get 25, 30 applications; now we have 66,” said Greg MacPherson, the city’s affordable housing concierge. “So many are really strong… viable projects.”
MacPherson said his team will ensure successful applications create as many affordable and downtown units as possible.
“We’re very cautious of the need for a really equitable process, so we are using a scoring system that’s based on the bylaw (linked to the grants),” he said.
MacPherson said all applications will be rated on a 100-point scale, with 30 points based on project readiness, 30 points linked to social impact and 30 points for financial feasibility and efficiency (including how many units would be built). The final 10 points will measure how closely a project aligns with major city development goals and council’s strategic priorities action plan.
MacPherson said the large social impact component will prioritize Indigenous-led projects, as well as homes with the greatest level of affordability.
“We’re seeing those (projects) often are getting a higher score because of those outcomes.… My guess would be that we will see a number that are offering deeply affordable housing,” he said.
The grants range from up to $25,000 per unit for downtown market builds, up to $35,000 per unit for general affordable housing and up to $60,000 per unit for affordable downtown housing. Developers of construction outside the downtown who qualify for the general affordable housing grant could also qualify for a $15,000 per unit top-up if they ensure their projects are “deeply affordable.”
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES
Christina Maes Nino said that due to their focus on low rents, non-profits also need government funding to build their projects.
Christina Maes Nino, executive director of the Manitoba Non-Profit Housing Association, said she hopes the city gives top priority to deeply affordable homes with monthly rents of $900 or less.
And she would like the city to prioritize projects led by non-profit housing groups. She said those groups generally guarantee low rents, unlike private contracts that may only commit to keeping units below market rate for 20 years or less.
“Projects that are owned and operated by non-profits… are going to remain affordable over the long term, even after any funding agreement ends,” said Maes Nino.
Due to their focus on low rents, she said non-profits are also most in need of government funding to get their projects built.
“The rents that they charge (are) going to be significantly less than the market, which means that they need some kind of capital funding in order to make up that difference.… (These grants offer) a good opportunity for them to bring down those costs so they can make some projects viable that wouldn’t otherwise have been,” she said.
Mayor Scott Gillingham said he’s pleased to see so much interest in the grants.
“This is good news today,” he said. “It just indicates the readiness and willingness and desire of developers to build housing.”
The mayor said the city expects to offer future rounds of the grants, and the next one could begin within the next six to eight months. That means projects that don’t secure funding now could reapply.
Gillingham said he expects new housing construction will also help make other homes more affordable.
“Right now, the demand is high for housing and the supply is low. By adding more supply, it can make a difference in the price of housing,” he said.
MacPherson said the concierge program will work with the leaders of promising projects who don’t succeed in claiming a first-round grant, especially for Indigenous-led and non-profit projects.
“Whether they access this capital grant or not, we will be working to support good projects to whatever degree possible moving forward …. We’re really hopeful that this is just the beginning for a lot of applications that we received, whether they’ll get funding from us or elsewhere, I’m very hopeful that they’ll move forward,” he said.
The city is working with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., End Homelessness Winnipeg, the Winnipeg Foundation and Manitoba Housing to explore further funding options for qualified projects, a news release notes.
The grants are funded through $122.4 million of federal housing accelerator funds that Winnipeg is slated to receive over three years. The overall program is expected to fast-track the development of 3,166 new housing units by 2027, including at least 931 affordable units.
joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca
X: @joyanne_pursaga
Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter
Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.
Every piece of reporting Joyanne produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.