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This article was published 24/9/2014 (2188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mayoral hopeful Judy Wasylycia-Leis pledged a batch of small changes to city zoning and tax rules to help boost the number of affordable housing units built in the city.

Standing in front of a new William Avenue apartment complex, she said the province's plan to build 500 new affordable rentals over the next three years should be the tip of the iceberg. Winnipeg will probably get 350 of those units, which isn’t enough, given more aggressive targets in cities like Saskatoon, she said. Wasylycia-Leis wouldn't commit to a bigger target, though, saying she’d work with the province instead.

She pledged to use a combination of zoning and tax rules to encourage more units. Specifically, she promised to:

* Use inclusionary zoning to mandate a certain number of affordable units per project. Wasylycia-Leis would not commit to a figure. But, her promise is similar to a new downtown rental grant program passed by city council this summer that mandates that any project getting a city subsidy must include at least 10 per cent affordable units.

* Expand the use of tax increment financing to neighbourhoods or projects outside the downtown. TIF, which uses future tax revenue to help fund a project, has been a favourite of several mayoral candidates. It's not clear what neighbourhoods Wasylycia-Leis believes might benefit from TIF or what kinds of projects.

* Better use of secondary neighbourhood plans to pre-zone land for affordable units.

* Waive development fees for affordable units.

* Do more bylaw inspection to ensure safe living conditions. Wasylycia-Leis would not say whether this would require hiring more bylaw inspectors and how much that might cost.

* Donating city land or vacant buildings for affordable projects, much like the Merchants Hotel on Selkirk Avenue was turned over to non-profits.