New affordable housing agreement between Manitoba and Ottawa

Some $62 million will be invested in affordable housing under a new agreement between Ottawa and the Manitoba government.
Manitoba will match federal funding and deliver provincially-designed housing programs. 
The agreement is designed to provide the province with the flexibility to make investments to achieve the overall outcome under the Affordable Housing Framework, which is to reduce the number of Canadians in housing need by improving access to affordable housing that is sound, suitable and sustainable.
“The agreement recognizes the need for local solutions to housing challenges and the importance of reporting on progress on achievement of outcomes,” said Diane Finley, the federal minister responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
The province will be developing approximately 150 affordable seniors housing units through the recent Request for Proposals (RFP) and will also be developing affordable family housing through an RFP that will be released this August. 
Manitoba will continue to provide renovation programming to homeowners and provide renovation grants to help seniors and persons with disabilities make their homes more liveable. 
In addition, the province will also launch a homeownership program for targeted southern rural and northern communities.
“This financial support will help us provide even more housing for families, seniors, and other Manitoba citizens under our new three-year Action Plan,” said Manitoba Housing Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross.
In the fall of 2009, federal, provincial and territorial governments, as well as municipalities, public and private stakeholders, began discussing how best to use federal funding for housing from 2011 to 2014. 
Federal, provincial and territorial housing ministers also met in December 2009 to discuss the future of these investments.
Starting in 2009, the Canadian government set aside $1.9-billion for housing and homelessness programs over a five-year period. 
The Canadian government is making an additional one-time investment of more than $2 billion over two years in new and existing social housing, and  making available $2 billion in loans to Canadian municipalities over two years for housing-related infrastructure improvements. 
This year, the Manitoba government is investing $144 million on housing and housing-related capital projects, which is expected to result in an additional $132 million boost to the provincial economy in economic spin-offs.