City reducing parking requirements for affordable-housing projects

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This article was published 01/02/2023 (450 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The City of Winnipeg hopes to make it easier to create affordable housing by letting developers provide fewer parking spaces.

A report notes affordable-housing residents are less likely to own cars, leaving many parking spots vacant at such sites.

“In many projects, 100 per cent of the parking lot sits vacant, as no spaces are rented out by tenants,” the report notes.

City staff are now reducing the parking ratio required for affordable-housing projects to 0.15 spaces for each affordable housing unit, from the current 1.5. A report notes the city may also formally change the requirement in future zoning bylaws.

Reduced parking requirements are expected to make it cheaper to build affordable housing and allow more space for living units by shrinking the space required for parking stalls.

— Staff