Finding what’s missing in the Winnipeg housing market

By Brent Bellamy, Associate + Creative Director 
Originally published in the Winnipeg Free Press

Last week, Winnipeg city council spent several long days and late nights debating a sweeping set of zoning bylaw amendments that could fundamentally change how our city is built in the future.

Like all Canadian cities that signed on to the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF), Winnipeg is being asked to revamp its planning policies to allow greater density and more diverse housing types to be built in every neighbourhood across the city.

The federal government recognizes that if we are going to build more housing supply in cities to balance market demand and create more affordability, it can’t be accommodated by simply expanding outward in sprawling low-density suburbs.

The costs of infrastructure and municipal services can no longer be supported by low density growth, evidenced by increasing taxes, reduced services, and deteriorating infrastructure. The federal government is using the financial carrots of HAF to push cities into making uncomfortable changes to policies that regulate where housing can be built.

The planning changes being implemented effectively eliminate single-family zoning, allowing at least a duplex to be built on almost any lot in the city. It will also allow up to threeplexes and fourplexes depending on lot size, location, and considerations like proximity to transit and existing street conditions.

To speed up development, these new housing types will be allowed as-of-right, meaning that if they meet certain restrictions like height, lot coverage, and setbacks, they can be built without a public hearing.

The need for cities to densify, combined with ever-rising land and construction costs, means that the future of housing will be less and less about single-family homes.

Already only one-quarter of new homes built in Winnipeg each year are houses, with three-quarters being multi-family dwellings. This is an almost perfectly inverted ratio from 25 years ago.

Current zoning policies effectively segregate densities, protecting single-family neighbourhoods and pushing most multi-family options into downtown high-rises or six-storey buildings on large streets. The new zoning changes will allow smaller multi-family developments to be peppered throughout neighbourhoods instead of being relegated to their fringes.

Many people prefer the quality of life offered in a single-family home, and much of what is desirable in that lifestyle can be more affordably found in the types of housing these new zoning changes promote, commonly called “missing middle housing.”

Low-rise, multi-family housing types like townhouses, duplexes and fourplexes can offer more flexible and diverse living arrangements than a neighbourhood that is exclusively single-family, accommodating a wider range of household sizes, ages, and income levels.

Missing middle housing can fit seamlessly into the character of walkable residential neighbourhoods, while still increasing density and providing a greater range of home sizes and affordability options.

This housing diversity responds to the needs of people at different stages of life, whether it’s a rental or starter home for a young person, a downsizing option for a senior ageing in their community, or a family home.

A concern often raised about missing middle development is that it can mean the loss of smaller, older houses that are often affordable. Winnipeg is fortunate in some ways to have the oldest housing stock of any major city in Canada, with one in five houses being more than 80 years old, and one in 10 more than a century old.

An old housing stock creates affordability, but it can’t be relied on as a strategy to achieve that forever. We must allow our housing stock to be organically replenished in a way that will respond more specifically to the evolving needs of people today and in the future.

Change will happen to our aging neighbourhoods whether we like it or not, but we can shape and guide this change by designing zoning regulations that push more multi-family housing towards smaller scale, neighbourhood focused developments that provide a more desirable lifestyle option for many.

When a small bungalow is demolished for a fourplex, one house may be lost, but three more families are able to gain access to the neighbourhood.

The new construction may not be as affordable immediately, but a neighbourhood’s transition to higher density happens slowly, and as more and more older houses are lost over time, the infill will age and start a new cycle of affordability. In today’s market, most new missing middle housing is built as rental properties, but 10 years ago it would likely have been condominiums.

Market trends change, and by creating zoning regulations that promote this scale of development, more ownership options and home types will appear in the future. As this housing type becomes more prevalent and ages over time, it will replace the old bungalow as a common type of starter home that is the first step in the property ladder for young people.

The idea of allowing different densities and housing types to sit on the same street is not a new one.

Many of our most beloved older neighbourhoods have houses, townhouses, condominiums and apartment buildings sitting comfortably side-by-side. Higher-density neighbourhoods serve the greater good of reducing the cost of infrastructure and services needed to support new growth, helping to keep taxes down.

It also improves support for local shops and amenities like libraries and community centres, while making public transit more effective, and improving walkability. New zoning bylaws that will create more missing middle housing over time will result in more diverse and livable communities that provide varied ownership models, home types and sizes.

Missing middle housing will also allow broader access to good neighbourhoods, creating a more prosperous, affordable, and socially equitable city in the future.