Manitoba Housing’s wait list has grown even though vacancies have been slashed by the hundreds this year, signalling a rising need for publicly subsidized rental units, advocates told the Free Press.
The NDP government is facing calls to significantly add more homes for people on lower incomes to keep up with demand amid housing and homelessness crises.
“There is increasing need, because the cost of housing in the private market has grown,” said Christina Maes Nino, executive director of the Manitoba Non-Profit Housing Association. “We need to repair and build to catch up with demand.”
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Manitoba Non-Profit Housing Association (MNPHA) executive director Christina Maes Nino.
Manitoba Housing’s wait list had 6,079 applicants Tuesday, up from 5,822 on Jan. 1, a provincial spokesperson said. It is up from 5,423 in February 2023, but down from more than 9,000 in 2020.
Shauna MacKinnon of the Right to Housing Coalition said wait-list numbers can be off, because some applicants may find housing elsewhere and not remove themselves from the queue, or some people in need may not join a list.
“What we do know is the wait lists continue to be long, which suggests there is a high need,” she said.
Manitoba Housing applicants submit requests for specific areas or buildings they want to live in. Priority is given to those with the highest needs.
The length of time an applicant spends on the wait list depends on the area selected and whether they are willing to live somewhere other than their first choice, the provincial spokesperson said.
Someone may decline an offer, because the unit does not meet their request, and continue to wait for their preferred choice.
Manitoba Housing owns and operates 11,611 units — 6,241 of them in Winnipeg. It owns a further 4,357 units, which are managed by non-profit organizations through funding agreements. Non-profits have their own wait lists.
“There is increasing need, because the cost of housing in the private market has grown. We need to repair and build to catch up with demand.”–Christina Maes Nino
The Right to Housing Coalition said Manitoba needs to build 10,000 rent-geared-to-income social housing units — owned by public, non-profit and co-op providers — over 10 years to meet demand.
The Canadian Centre For Policy Alternatives-Manitoba estimated it may cost up to $1.5 billion to preserve Manitoba’s existing social housing stock.
A provincial spokesperson said 1,421 units owned by Manitoba Housing were unoccupied as of Tuesday, down from more than 2,000 in January.
Of those, 247 — two per cent of the agency’s portfolio — were vacant and available for rent. Almost half were in Winnipeg.
A further 1,174 vacant units were undergoing repairs beyond the typical turnover time of 30-90 days, the spokesperson said.
“The demand for housing, including factors such as geographic location and required bedroom sizes, does not always align with the nature of vacancies,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. “Various other mitigating factors can hinder the straightforward placement of households into vacant units.”
Maes Nino said the decrease in vacancies — by about 600 — was significant.
“The most common reason (for vacancies) is that the unit needs repairs and there isn’t a budget for those repairs,” she said.
Province partnering with governments, non-profit and private sectors to fulfill housing needs
Manitoba budgeted $116 million in 2024 to build at least 350 social and affordable housing units, and repair more than 3,000 units.
That includes $4 million for repairs and maintenance of Manitoba Housing properties, plus $6 million in new funding to acquire and $4 million to renovate existing stock for non-profits, the province said.
Maes Nino and MacKinnon said budgets for repairs are insufficient, given the degree of modernization that is needed after decades of underfunding by past governments.
Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith said the province, knowing the need is great, is partnering with other governments and the non-profit and private sectors.
“We’re working as fast as we can,” she said. “We want to build as much housing as possible.”
Smith said supports must be in place to help people find employment so they no longer require social housing.
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Provincial Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith said the province is partnering with other governments and the non-profit and private sectors.
The province will ensure existing units are updated to prevent them from falling into disrepair, she added.
In recent weeks, the NDP government and some of its partners announced housing projects that meet various needs.
They include a new 30-unit social housing building at 575 Balmoral St. in downtown Winnipeg, and 31 social housing units in a new 154-unit mixed-income complex in Transcona.
In March, the province introduced a new funding model for non-profit operators that will, among other things, stop housing projects from being sold to the private sector without due process.
Shortly after the NDP was elected in October, Smith’s office paused the sale of almost 20 Manitoba Housing projects that were recommended to be sold under the former Tory government.
chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca
Chris Kitching
Reporter
As a general assignment reporter, Chris covers a little bit of everything for the Free Press.
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