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WAYNE GLOWACKI \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
Council\u2019s property and development committee will discuss a report on the program next week.<\/p>\n
Council\u2019s property and development committee will discuss a report on the program next week. It proposes an initial fee for the city to review the plans, a reduced annual fee to renew the plans, and a 25 per cent discount on permit fees for builders who use plans from the program.<\/p>\n
The program, which is subject to full council approval, would launch in 2027, city spokesperson Deborah Bowers said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Initial review fees for dwelling unit plans would be $500, with an annual renewal fee of $250, and detached garage plans would cost $250 to review and $125 to renew.<\/p>\n
Mayor Scott Gillingham called the program a way to bolster the high rates of new home construction in the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve made real progress over the last four years. Winnipeg has issued more housing permits than any other previous four-year period on record, but we\u2019re not going to stop there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe continue to look for ways to remove unnecessary barriers, to improve our processes, and get more homes built faster across our city.\u201d<\/p>\n
While standardized housing build plans aren\u2019t a new concept in Winnipeg, the increasing interest in custom-built homes has contributed to pricing people out of the market for new builds in recent years, said property committee chair Coun. Evan Duncan.<\/p>\n
He described the potential discount as \u201ca great example of what was old is new again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, I hear from young people in Winnipeg who desperately want to own a home,\u201d said Duncan (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are doing everything we can to be creative, and on occasion go back to what used to work, to try it again, to make an opportunity for a young person, or even someone who\u2019s been living in an apartment or a rental, to buy that house and to call it home.\u201d<\/p>\n
A quicker process to get permits approved for more homes could make a dent in Winnipeg\u2019s growing need for different types of housing, said Duncan.<\/p>\n
\u201cTypically, Winnipeggers see multi-family (units) going up, but that\u2019s not what every Winnipegger wants,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of Winnipeggers want their own home on a piece of property where they have their piece of grass and their driveway, and unfortunately, in the current market, that is not attainable for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Manitoba Home Builders\u2019 Association met with city administration to discuss the program ahead of the report.<\/p>\n
While the association did flag possible limitations \u2014 standardized plans may have to be altered for different lot sizes, and builders may need to make alterations to the plans that must be reviewed at a cost \u2014 the program would save builders money and time, said president and CEO Lanny McInnes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see the benefit, for sure, of this approach,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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McInnes pointed to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.\u2019s design catalogue, published last year, which offers designs for a number of standardized homes.<\/p>\n
Some of those designs don\u2019t easily fit into Winnipeg\u2019s building standards, McInnes said.<\/p>\n
\u201c(The city has) taken this approach instead, which is kind of a design-by-design review basis \u2026 it\u2019s encouraging builders to utilize that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The report will be presented to the committee Sept. 9.<\/p>\n
malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
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Malak Abas Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg\u2019s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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