Winnipeg Toys with Planning Disaster

Winnipeg Toys with Planning Disaster

In a Winnipeg Free Press commentary today, I argue that the city of Winnipeg’s slow development approval processes have the potential to do as much damage to housing affordability as radical smart growth policies. Our Demographia Second Annual International Housing Affordability Survey had ranked Winnipeg as one of the most affordable housing markets out of 100 in six nations in 2005. The bottlenecks now occurring at Winnipeg city hall could, if not corrected, destroy housing affordability just as surely as the anti-suburban policies that have been adopted in places like Vancouver, BC and Portland, Oregon.