Winnipeg will become home to a new 95-unit building in south Pembina. The $38.5 million project, which began construction this past summer, will have 38 of the 95 units marked as affordable with rents below 70 per cent of the median market rent.
Although this development does meet some of the housing needs in the area, Kirsten Bernas, chair of the provincial committee of the Right to Housing Coalition, says that it doesn’t address the dire housing situation that low-income families and communities are experiencing.
The Right to Housing Coalition advocates for “rent-geared-to-income” (RGI) models, where rents are capped at 30 per cent of household income. This approach ensures affordability for low-income residents. Bernas explains that of the 2,000 plus units built with federal funds over the past seven years in Winnipeg, only 235 are RGI units.
