Manitoba NDP pauses sale of some Manitoba Housing units

The Manitoba government has taken 19 public housing units and10 vacant lotsoff the sale market, even though some had potential buyers.

TheNDP government, which came to power on Oct. 3, said it wants to reviewa programcreated by its predecessor, led by the Progressive Conservatives, toreduce the overall number of surplus or vacant Manitoba Housing units.

"We know that Manitobans across the province need access to affordable and social housing. This is why the Manitoba Housing assets currently recommended for sale have been paused," Housing and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smithsaid in an emailed statement.

The asset repurposing policy started in 2016, when the PCs formed government.Since then, 168 Manitoba Housing assets have beensold,a government spokesperson told CBC News in an email.

Before listing a property for public sale, the policy requires the province to first consider options such as possible reuse by other departments, partner agencies, tenants or low-income households, or offering it for sale to First Nations, municipalities or community organizations.

The goal of the asset repurposingpolicy was to review the department's housing portfolio to address communities with low housing demand, a Manitoba Housing document says.

"Whereas some communities, such as Winnipeg, are experiencing high demand and long wait lists for housing units, other Manitoba communities are experiencing chronic vacancy," it says.

"To resolve this mismatch between supply and demand, Manitoba Housing has been repurposing underutilized and chronically vacant assets to serve other government program purposes, sell to tenants, low-income households or community, or, if necessary, demolish."

The 19 properties impacted by the review have a total of 35 units,the government spokesperson said.

Seven had"varying degrees of interest from prospective buyers" before things were paused, and sixwere being made available through the rural homeownership program.

That program is for rural communities with plenty of social housing but few options for people with low to moderate incomes to buy their own place.

It tries to balance that by making single detached and semi-detached homes owned by the Manitoba Housing available for purchase at fair market value, and offersfinancial assistance to prospective homeowners, the government said.

In her email, Smith said the sales have been paused to ensure the programs alignwith the government's mandate to endchronic homelessness and provide affordable social housing.

CBC asked for the list and location of the 19 properties, but the spokesperson said Manitoba Housing does notprovide street addressesfor its detached housing unitsor smaller residential holdings (properties with four units or less) to protect the privacy of potential owners.

"Therefore, the list is not available for public release," the email said, adding thatall but one of the properties are outside of Winnipeg.

A spokesperson for the PCs said the party can't offer a comment on the NDP's decisionuntil the government releases all the details.