March 5, 2026 Standing Policy Committee on Property and Development Regular Meeting Agenda
1. Executive Summary
The 2025 Complete Communities Land Monitoring Report seeks to provide an accurate picture of recent residential and non-residential development activity and estimated land supplies to promote better policy and decision-making. As per Complete Communities 2.0 (CCDS) policy, it is required to be updated annually, being critical to monitor and inform the plan’s implementation. Development activity trends and land supplies described throughout the report are accurate as of January 1, 2025.
The City continues to meet its 50% residential intensification target. In 2024, 53% of all permits issued for the construction of new dwelling units were located in the intensification target area, while the last five years has seen an annual average of 55%. This rate is expected to moderate slightly over the long term. Conversely, the City has fallen short of its Downtown intensification target of 350 dwelling units per year in each of the last three years, having issued permits for 258 units in 2024. Downtown development agency CentreVenture predominantly attributes this to a lesser availability of development incentives, along with the consequences of higher construction costs and socio-economic issues being more acutely felt Downtown. These rates are expected to rebound in the near term, as there are approximately 2,500 dwelling units in the Downtown “pipeline”, buoyed by Housing Accelerator Fund capital grants and tax increment financing grants via the Affordable Housing Now program. This includes a number of projects at Railside at The Forks, Phase 2 of the Market Lands development, Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn (former Hudson’s Bay building), and the redevelopment of Portage Place.
The City continues to maintain a healthy supply of greenfield land, with supplies exceeding CCDS 2.0 targets. The City has an estimated 13.5 year supply of vacant planned land (compared to its 10-year target), 9 years of vacant serviced land (compared to a target of five-to-seven years), and 5.5 years of vacant serviced land where the infrastructure is installed and the subdivision by-law is approved (compared to a target of three-to-five years). These figures are very similar to those in last year’s report, where absorption has been offset by gains in supply where sites were rezoned for residential development where they otherwise had not been designated, or subdivisions were approved at densities higher than originally forecasted.
However, to maintain this healthy supply, Council will need to decide how it funds the next unserviced site by 2027. According to its existing phasing policies, the Warde Ave extension, needed to enable the south half of Precinct K, should be funded by 2028 to be in place by 2033. However, wastewater treatment capacity may not be sufficient to enable full build out of Precinct K at that time, as the South End Sewage Treatment Plan (SEWPCC) is expected to reach capacity in the early 2030s. The Water and Waste Department will be reviewing remaining available capacity beginning in 2026, including identifying any constraints to development and options to mitigate them.
Alternatively, the City could prioritize the next greenfield priority, Precinct D, by funding the Chief Peguis Trail extension by 2027 to be in place by 2033. But without at least one of these projects in place by this time, it is forecasted that Council would fall short of its serviced land supply targets. Furthermore, these projects are only a portion of the City’s $8 billion infrastructure deficit and will need to be prioritized against other projects needed for other reasons. In the face of these demands, Council may be challenged to meet its serviced land supply targets. Additionally, failing to bring lands online in the southeast would result in shortages in the quadrant and would likely be misaligned with industry expectations…
https://dmis.winnipeg.ca/ViewMeeting?documentId=27879§ionId=801718
also…
… A major landowner in Precinct K South indicated that the site will likely be developed at lower-than-average residential densities, particularly west of the railway tracks. This is attributed to higher acquisition costs associated with the area’s high degree of land ownership fracture and land use designations in the existing precinct plan. The landowner also indicated that they expect the area to take a long time to develop…