On December 12th, 2024, Winnipeg City Council will consider a report from the Public on the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF). Canada Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Minister Sean Fraser’s Office and the Mayor’s Office have had direct discussions on the progress of HAF in the last week. As a result, Mayor Gillingham is confirming through this statement that:
- The Canada-Winnipeg HAF agreement requires – and always required – advance progress reporting by the City before each tranche of funding would be released.
- The Government of Canada has reaffirmed to the City that the HAF Agreement is binding between Canada and the City of Winnipeg, and that the City can and should proceed as if the Agreement is fully funded through to its anticipated conclusion.
The Administrative Report proposed changing the sequence of City HAF initiatives to prioritize the Housing Accelerator Fund Capital Grant Program over the Program to Support Infrastructure and Serving Upgrades initiative with the goal of prioritizing the faster of the two potential initiatives in 2025.
To maintain the structure and sequence of the initial agreement, the Mayor will introduce an administration amendment to the Report’s recommendations at Council on December 12th with this goal in mind. This will allow for more shovel-ready housing projects to proceed in 2025 while staging up the infrastructure program to deliver new builds later in the program.
For more information, please contact:
Colin Fast
Director of Communications
Office of the Mayor, City of Winnipeg
cfast@winnipeg.ca / 204-803-6406