Brandon housing co-op welcomes reno funds

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This article was published 06/04/2024 (771 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The manager of an affordable housing co-op in Brandon is pleased the Manitoba Government’s Thursday housing announcement finally offered support for complexes like theirs.

That $30-million announcement included a $20-million component for non-profits to either build new units, acquire units for use as social housing or renovate existing housing units.

It also includes $10 million for municipalities and Indigenous communities to develop social housing.

That renovation component is an exciting prospect for the Spruce Woods Housing Co-op on Braecrest Drive, which has been looking for support for a long list of projects it needs to complete at an estimated cost of $3.5 million.

Spruce Woods needs stucco and roofing repairs on 28 of its townhouses and repairs to its crumbling parking lot, among other things. New windows have been purchased through an Efficiency Manitoba program, but money is needed to pay for their installation.

Eva Cameron, the former chair of the co-op’s board and its current manager, told the Sun on Friday that the province stepping up for existing housing is welcome news and that it comes after Housing Minister Bernadette Smith, Brandon East MLA Glen Simard and the CEO of Manitoba Housing visited Spruce Woods in February.

“I get that you’ve got to build new because we need more housing, but you’ve got to look after the existing,” Cameron said. “That’s where it has been falling short.”

The Sun spoke with Smith on Friday morning, who specifically mentioned Cameron and Spruce Woods when discussing the renovation component of the announcement.

Beyond providing money for renovations, Smith said Manitoba Housing is working with the co-op and others like it to provide subsidy funding after their initial agreements have expired, with $4.4 million being dedicated for that purpose.

When the Sun spoke to Cameron last year, she said the expiration of those subsidies was making it harder to offer the co-op’s residents affordable rental rates.

“I know there are other housing groups that are across our province that are in the same kind of predicament where their agreements are coming up and they need some additional funding and some work done on their property,” Smith said.

“This is really going to help with them and this has to help with new builds as well.”

While it depends on the nature of each project, Smith said generally non-profits will be offered $1,000 per unit for replacement costs.

The agreement with Manitoba Housing still has to be finalized, but Cameron said it’s good timing.

After the first round of water and wastewater rate hikes implemented by the City of Brandon late last year, Cameron said Spruce Woods paid $2,000 a month more than before.

Coupled with a 9.4 per cent municipal property tax hike, a 2.92 per cent educational property tax hike from the Brandon School Division and properties like Spruce Woods being exempted from the provincial education tax rebate, the co-op had already given notice to its residents that rents would have to be hiked 3.5 per cent in June.

According to Cameron, renewed subsidies would prevent the co-op from having to raise rates once again six months later.

Spruce Woods is waiting to see what the application process will involve and how much money they’ll be eligible to receive, but Cameron said $1 million to $1.5 million would allow the co-op to make progress on fixing their townhouses, which she said was their top priority.

But she’s hopeful the funding will be made ongoing.

“It can’t be a one-year investment, it’s got to be multiple years,” Cameron said. “This is a great start … Let’s face it, if they build new, it’s never going to be as affordable as what we have with the rising cost of supplies, the cost of contractors.”

In the meantime, Cameron said the co-op will continue to pursue other grant opportunities to repair and improve their buildings.

Reached by phone, Brandon West PC MLA Wayne Balcaen said the announcement was “light on funding and even lighter on details.”

“We don’t know how much is coming to Brandon, we don’t know how much is going to every other part of the province,” Balcaen said.

“Are we on the radar for some of these funds? … Housing is difficult to come by already and for not-for-profits to go out there and now have to do a scavenger hunt to find these places, it’s putting a lot of onus on them.”

Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett told the Sun on Friday he hoped the funds available to municipalities would help with some of the city’s existing housing initiatives, like the property it is selling for $1 to a developer willing to build affordable housing at 215 12th St. North.

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