Winnipeg announces proposed new grant program to rehab problem properties

The city of Winnipeg is looking at a possible grant to make it easier to fix vacant and derelict buildings. CTV’s Jeff Keele explains.

The city could be offering a cash carrot to entice vacant and derelict building owners to revive their properties.

Sarah Coates lives next door to one.

“These buildings are standing here, useless for nothing,” said Coates.

She says it’s a magnet for crime.

“It’s been sitting there vacant for years,” she said. “I chase away crack heads, meth heads, people who just want to pass out and drink there. I have a grandson who plays in my yard.”

Now the city wants to establish a new $3 million, one-time grant program, with the aim of rehabbing these properties.

Under the plan, building owners, developers and non-profits would be eligible for up to $35,000 per housing unit revived. Projects must have at least four units, which can be on multiple properties, and they need to be affordable.

The property must be owned, leased, or purchased by the applicant.

The hope is this could get between 100 and 150 housing units repaired.

Mayor Scott Gilligham supports the vacant building grant program and believes this will incentivize owners and builders.

“It’s a really good target,” said Gilligham. “100 new units of housing would obviously go a long way to provide more housing at a time when we need homes for people.”

These types of properties have plagued many inner city and north end neighbourhoods for years. The city says as of last September, there were 535 vacant buildings with active orders under the city’s vacant building bylaw.

Darrell Warren, president of the William Whyte Neighbourhood Association, says the problem is only getting worse.

“It’s going to spread and it is spreading,” said Warren.

Warren says $35,000 is a good incentive, but he’d like to see a funding program for single-family houses too.

“There’s a lot of one-lot places that can be addressed too.”

Applicants can apply for the grants this summer, with awards expected in the fall.

If approved by council, the grant program would be funded from federal housing money, and boarded building fees collected by the city.