Tell the City you support MISSING MIDDLE homes!

The City is holding a public hearing on bylaw changes to allow MORE MISSING MIDDLE HOMES AND PATIOS!

These changes would allow more homes and a greater variety of homes for people with different needs. They would also facilitate more patios, enhancing street life and opportunity for FUN in Winnipeg. Supporters of more homes, affordability, walkability, and vibrant neighbourhoods need to make their voices heard.

Register to speak or send a submission to the public hearing held by the Property & Development Committee on May 9th. Submissions must be sent by or before 12:00PM May 8th.

Below are instructions on registering for the public hearing and a sample submission/speech. We STRONGLY recommend customizing it.

Public Hearing

Registering to speak or submitting a written statement

Fill out the public hearing form as follows:

1. Type in your personal info and Select “Next”.
2. For Public Hearing Item type in “1. Text Amendment – Rapid Zoning By-law Amendments to the Winnipeg and Downtown Winnipeg Zoning By-laws – DAZ 204/2024“.
3. For “please indicate whether you are in support of, opposition to, or registering for information on the proposed development” select “support“.
4. Select whether you want to request to speak or submit comments in writing. If you register to speak, you will be presented with options for appearing in-person or over zoom. For written submission, a text box to write the comments in will appear.
5. After confirming you are not a robot with the CAPTCHA, click the Blue Submit Registration in the bottom right corner of the page.

A video tutorial on registering to speak on the Housing Accelerator Fund was produced in fall 2023. The process for registering at this public hearing is similar.

Sample Statement

I’m for MORE HOMES and MORE PATIOS

I am in favour of changes to allow more missing middle homes, more patios, and eliminating parking minimums on Portage Avenue and Pembina Highway.

We need a greater variety of homes for people and families with differing needs and options for seniors to age in place. Changes that allow more missing middle homes will increase our housing options, add to supply and thus foster housing abundance, and allow more options for multi-generational households. Detached secondary suites, which these changes would make a permitted use, are a great option for seniors and multi-generational households. Edmonton shows they work great!

Housing affordability is becoming a crisis for more and more people across Canada, at progressively higher income levels, and in more cities. Even cities historically not seen as hot housing markets, such as Halifax, are experiencing affordability challenges for more and more people progressively along the income scale. Winnipeg must bolster market-rate and social housing supply to prevent a death spiral of unaffordability here. This is especially important as Manitoba is below the national average in homes per capita.

As we learned over the last few years, walkable places and outdoor dining options are important and add vibrancy and fun to Winnipeg. This is why I support changes to allow more patios. Removing parking minimums on Portage and Pembina would reduce the price of new homes built, allow more space for homes, and foster more walkable and transit oriented development, supporting Winnipeg’s climate goals. Additionally, it fulfills a campaign promise the Mayor made.

For these reasons, and more, I support the changes proposed by the City’s Public Service.

Backgrounder: The proposed bylaw changes

The public hearing on May 9th will consider bylaw changes centred around allowing more missing middle homes, making outdoor dining patios a permitted use, and eliminating parking minimums along much of Pembina Highway and Portage Avenue.

These are the first in a series of rapid zoning bylaw amendments. The fourplex and four-storeys within 800 metres of frequent transit bylaw amendments are not part of this package and will, instead, be voted on in spring 2025.

This package includes the following:

• Making duplexes a conditional use in R1 (single family only) districts
• Allowing up to three housing units on R2 (two-family) and Residential Multi-Family zones, subject to certain lot size standards.
• Making detached secondary suites (or “garden suites” or “granny suites”) a permitted use. This will eliminate the time and cost associated with the existing conditional use development application process.
• Eliminate parking minimums on Portage Avenue and Pembina Highway in Urban Infill Areas 1 & 2 (see map below).
• Reduce parking minimums to 0.15 stalls per home for affordable housing projects.
• Reduce parking minimums to 1 parking space per home for multi-family homes in Urban Infill Areas 1 &2.
• Making it easier to establish outdoor drinking and dining areas in Downtown Winnipeg.

For more information, check out the Public Service’s administrative report and the bylaw change text.