The City of Winnipeg still has ground to cover to meet housing targets tied to more than $120 million in federal funding.

A report to the executive policy committee says the city has approved building permits for 11,441 net new housing units since Dec. 5, 2023. That is about 81 per cent of the 14,101 units required under the federal Housing Accelerator Fund agreement.

The program links $122.4 million in federal funding to the number of new housing units created before Dec. 5, 2026. If Winnipeg does not reach the target, the city could lose a portion of the funding.

Property and development committee chair Coun. Evan Duncan said he believes the city can close the gap.

“We’re doing everything we can to ensure that these processes are as straightforward as possible and that investors know that a bureaucratic process is not going to hold them up. And council is on board,” Duncan said.

Most of the new housing approved so far has been multi-family units.

The report shows the city has approved 5,181 units near frequent or rapid transit routes, but that leaves the city about 31 per cent short of the target set for that category. The target was intended to encourage more housing density along major transit corridors.

Another 2,396 units classified as “missing middle” housing — such as duplexes, triplexes and small apartment buildings — have already exceeded the target for that category.

The city has also approved 2,276 additional multi-family units in other areas and 1,588 single-detached homes.

The update shows a larger number of projects moving through earlier stages of development. Since December 2023, the city has approved 16,651 units through development applications and 10,748 units through development permits, which must be secured before building permits can be issued.

Since November 2022, Winnipeg has approved 4,051 units through municipal housing programs, including 1,449 affordable units and 962 rent-geared-to-income units, alongside market units in mixed-income developments.

Two additional projects approved since the last report are expected to add 121 new residential units, including 48 affordable units with wraparound supports for Indigenous seniors and 73 units in a mixed-income development that will include a daycare.

City staff are also recommending $5 million from the Housing Accelerator Fund to help redevelop the long-closed Marlborough Hotel downtown into roughly 300 housing units, some of them affordable.

Duncan said the project could help bring more residents to the downtown core alongside other major redevelopment projects.

“We have the old Bay building, the former Portage Place building and now the Marlborough Hotel building potentially all coming online and bringing in the neighbourhood of 200 to 300 units on each site into the downtown, for potential residents of downtown,” he said.

“That changes the dynamic in our downtown. It brings people there, and then it brings safety, and it brings … ‘live work play’ really into full focus for the downtown area.”

The Marlborough project has not yet been included in the city’s housing totals. Executive policy committee will vote on whether to approve funding for the project at the meeting on March 17.