Mayor, premier propose ways to speed up approval of new housing in Winnipeg

Mayor Scott Gillinghamand Premier Wab Kinewsay they're prepared to remove somehurdles in the way of housing approvals in order to speed up the pace of new housing development in Winnipeg.

During his annual state of the city speech in the Manitoba capital, Gillingham challenged all city departments to ensure8,000 new housing units homes, condos or apartments get approved by Nov. 30.

The city typically approves about 5,000 to 6,000 new units a year. Gillingham said he wants the city to stretch a little to approve more units but didn't want to propose an unrealistic number.

"We need to catch that sense of urgency," Gillingham told a crowd of about 1,200 people at RBC Convention Centre, explaining every city department has to do its part to speed along the approval of housing in a way that addresses the demand.

"Public works needs to see itself as a housing department. Water and waste needs to see itself as a housing department. Transit, community service and city clerks all need to see themselves as housing departments."

One way the city could help would be to suspend traffic studies for new developments, especially if they are proposed for areas with easy transit access or high pedestrian use, Gillingham said in a scrum following his speech.

Housing proposed for existing neighbourhoods does not require as much parking because not all residents use cars, he said.

In a separate scrum, Kinewsaid the province could help speed up approvals by rolling back parts of provincial legislation, brought in by the previous Progressive Conservative government, that allowed the provincially appointed municipal board to overturn city land-use decisions.

Kinew said he could not get into specifics because a bill could be in the works.

Gillinghamwelcomed the possibility, saying the municipal board killed a Charleswood housing development that city council had approved.

This was Gillingham's second state of the city speech since he was elected mayor in October 2022.

In March 2023, Gillingham used his first speech to promise to announce a community safety team that began training to patrol Winnipeg Transit buses and stops on Jan. 15.

Four days later, the Winnipeg Police Association filed a grievance over the use of peace officers who are not police officers.

Those safety officers are nonetheless going to start riding buses on Feb. 19, Gillingham said.

The mayor also used his speech to challenge Winnipeg CAO Michael Jack to propose a means of usingartificial intelligence to improve customer service by June 30.

One possibility, the mayor said, would be some means of communicating with newcomers in multiple languages.

Following the meeting, Kinew said he was amenable to allowing Winnipeg to charge a $1 monthly fee on phone lines to help pay for improved 911 service.

The premier then said he wants to make mobile phone service more affordable and chastised Bell for laying off staff the same day it announced dividends.

Gillinghamalso used his speech to askWinnipeg's business community to put together an economic summit. Loren Remillard of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce said he accepted that challenge.

Gillingham also reminded the audience that Winnipeg is celebrating its 150th anniversary. The city's first city council meeting started 30 minutes late, he said, joking that council has maintained that tradition of tardiness ever since.

Mayor, premier propose ways to speed up approval of new housing in Winnipeg

8 months ago

Duration 1:41

During his annual state of the city speech in the Manitoba capital, Gillingham challenged all city departments to ensure 8,000 new housing units homes, condos or apartments get approved by Nov. 30.