Our Impact
Since 2005, the Right to Housing Coalition has engaged its supporters to take action that urges governments at all levels to meet the housing needs of low-income renters in Manitoba.
While we continue to operate largely within a political context that relies heavily on private sector solutions to public problems like homelessness and housing insecurity, there have been some concrete government-led responses that are highlighted below.
With the support of Right to Housing, the Centre for Policy Alternatives Manitoba published a 2021 report that looked at 10 other Canadian cities to ask how municipal housing departments supported the creation of affordable rental housing and how much staff capacity was dedicated to the efforts. Using the median staff size relative to city population the report showed that Winnipeg should seek to dedicate seven full-time equivalent staff to the creation of affordable rental housing.
Right to Housing used this research to advocate to the City of Winnipeg to expand its staff capacity dedicated to the development of social housing. By 2025 with the receipt of federal funding, housing staff capacity increased from 1 to 7 full time positions, although 6 of the 7 positions are only temporarily funded under the Housing Accelerator Fund agreement until 2027.
In the months leading up to the 2025 provincial budget,the Right to Housing Coalition ran a campaign calling for a commitment to add 1,650 new social housing units, a $232M investment to repair the existing social housing supply, and funding to ensure social housing tenants have access to highly trained addictions, mental health and primary care professionals as well as community support workers. Budget 2025 committed to adding 670 social housing units, invested $71M to repair the existing social housing supply, and $2M to support rent subsidies and funding for programming/wraparound supports in new units coming online.
In 2022 the Right to Housing Coalition supported residents at Lions Place when the owners put the 287-unit non-profit housing complex for low to modest-income seniors and students up for sale. Residents advocated to ensure the housing stayed in the hands of the non-profit or public housing sector, but the building was sold to an Alberta-based publicly-traded residential real estate company in 2023. That year the Manitoba government provided $1.2M in subsidies over two years to the new private landlord so tenants wouldn’t need to pay higher rents.
The Right to Housing Coalition worked with residents to help secure a new $3.3M subsidy agreement over three years in 2025. Since the sale of Lions Place the Right to Housing Coalition has also advocated for the introduction of legislation to help prevent the sale of social housing that has received government funds. In March 2025, the Manitoba government introduced Bill 12 but it has been held back by the official opposition until the fall of 2025 when it is expected to proceed through the legislative process and pass by January 2026.
The Canada Manitoba Housing Benefit (CMHB) provided eligible low-income renters with a financial top up to help pay rent and utilities in the private market. In September 2024 the Manitoba government paused the benefit program saying it was fully subscribed, which left more than 500 households at risk of eviction and homelessness.
RTH ran a brief and urgent campaign calling on supporters to contact the Minister responsible for the program and urging them to resume benefit payments and expand the social housing supply to reduce reliance on private market rent benefits. The Manitoba government lifted the pause in October 2024 and added $1.2M to the program to help ensure nobody who applied for the benefit during the pause would lose their housing and to enable new applications to apply to the program.
In the months leading up to the 2024 provincial budget,the Right to Housing Coalition ran a campaign calling for a commitment to add 1,000 new social housing units, a $150M investment to repair the existing social housing supply, and funding to ensure social housing tenants have access to support workers. Budget 2024 committed to adding 350 social housing units, invested $67.8M to repair the existing social housing supply, and $5M for initiatives designed to address chronic homelessness, including housing supports towards a Housing First model.
In 2023 the City of Winnipeg received $122M from the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF), part of which would be used to expand Winnipeg’s housing supply. RTH supported the City’s application to the Fund with suggested amendments to increase its target number of non-market owned social housing units with rents geared to income. RTH called on the City to support the creation of 2,250 units of social housing over the 3 years of the HAF agreement. As of June 2025, the HAF had supported the development of 509 social housing units.
In the lead up to the 2023 provincial election, the Right to Housing Coalition ran a campaign calling on political parties to commit to implementing the 5 pillars of its social housing action plan for Manitoba. A summary of their commitments can be found here.
In the year leading up to this announcement, the Right to Housing Coalition partnered with Make Poverty History Manitoba on a joint campaign that called for an investment in 300 net new units of social housing annually for at least 5 years, and an increase to the EIA basic needs benefit to raise the incomes of all Manitobans to at least 75% of the poverty line. Manitoba’s homelessness strategy committed to adding 700 new units of social housing available in 2023/24, and to increasing the EIA basic needs benefit by $50 per month for general assistance clients without dependent children and $25/ per month for disability clients.
Lions Place was a 287-unit non-profit owned housing complex for low to modest-income seniors and students in downtown Winnipeg that was put up for sale in 2022, four years after its 35-year operating agreement expired. RTH supported residents in their advocacy to slow the sale and have governments step in to ensure the housing stayed in the hands of the non-profit or public sectors.
Despite this advocacy, Lions accepted an offer from an Alberta-based private real estate investment trust, Mainstreet Equity Corporation, in early 2023. In the end, the Manitoba government agreed to pay $1.2M to the new owners who, in return, froze rents for existing tenants for two years. In April 2025, a new three-year $3.3M rent supplement agreement was signed with Mainstreet to ensure residents would not experience a rent increase.
RTH for many years had identified tax increment financing (TIF) and grant funding as tools the City of Winnipeg has available to support the development of social housing. In 2022, the City launched the Affordable Housing Now program, which offers these tools to housing providers that produce affordable housing units. Although the program doesn’t require providers to develop social housing with rents geared to income, the program has supported the development of 446 social housing units since it was launched (as of June 2025).
RTH had long advocated that the City of Winnipeg prioritize funding for the development of social housing to meet the needs of low income renters. Beginning in 2020 the City administered three rounds of federal Rapid Housing Initiative funding to support the development of 191 social housing units in Winnipeg.
The City of Winnipeg Comprehensive Housing Needs Assessment was released in January 2020. The Right to Housing Coalition used the information in the needs assessment in its presentation to the City of Winnipeg Standing Committee responsible for housing to urge the City to adopt a more comprehensive response to the housing crisis. In November of 2020 the City approved a report “Menu of Options for an Affordable Housing Strategy” that included actions aimed at expanding the supply of affordable housing which had previously been identified by the Coalition.
In 2006 The Right to Housing Coalition and the River Heights Ministerial Housing Action Group began a campaign to draw attention to 170 vacant homes at Kapyong Barracks after the Second Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry relocated to Shilo near Brandon Manitoba two years earlier. The land was declared surplus by the government of Canada and was to be transferred to the Canada Land Co.
The coalition argued that the housing should be used to house low-income families. The coalition supported a consortium of First Nations that challenged the land transfer, arguing that the land should be included in outstanding treaty lands entitlement settlements. In 2019 Treaty One First Nations signed a settlement agreement with the Government of Canada. The land is being redeveloped for mix use and will include affordable housing.
Over several years RTH joined housing advocates across the country to call on the Government of Canada to develop and implement a National Housing Strategy that would include a plan to provide social housing for low-income renters across Canada. In November 2017, the Government of Canada launched a 10-year, $40-billion plan. The plan included goals to end chronic homelessness in Canada by 2030 and remove 530,000 families from core housing need.
The City of Winnipeg identified affordable housing development as a key issue and priority in approving its updated housing policy in 2013. This was followed by the development of an implementation plan. RTH was consulted by the Housing Development Division staff as the plan was being developed and provided written feedback and recommendations to the Winnipeg Housing Steering Committee in early 2014. Many of the actions in the Housing Policy Implementation Plan had been recommended in previous briefs submitted by RTH to the City.
After the Right to Housing coalition formed in 2005, it began to raise awareness and engage supporters to apply political pressure to expand provincial investments in expanding and protecting the social housing supply. The coalition urged the Manitoba government to make a specific commitment to add 300 new units of social housing annually for 5 years.
Between 2009 and 2014 the Manitoba government created 1,500 units of social housing through a combination of new construction and rent supplements. Over the same period it also began to significantly ramp up investments in maintaining the existing social housing supply, with annual investments increasing from from less than 20 million dollars annually to a peak of more than 120 million dollars in 2015.
In the year leading up to this announcement, the Right to Housing Coalition partnered with Make Poverty History Manitoba on a joint campaign that called for an investment in 300 net new units of social housing annually for at least 5 years, and an increase to the EIA basic needs benefit to raise the incomes of all Manitobans to at least 75% of the poverty line. Manitoba’s homelessness strategy committed to adding 700 new units of social housing available in 2023/24, and to increasing the EIA basic needs benefit by $50 per month for general assistance clients without dependent children and $25/ per month for disability clients.
In the lead up to the 2023 provincial election, the Right to Housing Coalition ran a campaign calling on political parties to commit to implementing the 5 pillars of its social housing action plan for Manitoba. A summary of their commitments can be found here.
In the months leading up to the 2024 provincial budget,the Right to Housing Coalition ran a campaign calling for a commitment to add 1,000 new social housing units, a $150M investment to repair the existing social housing supply, and funding to ensure social housing tenants have access to support workers. Budget 2024 committed to adding 350 social housing units, invested $67.8M to repair the existing social housing supply, and $5M for initiatives designed to address chronic homelessness, including housing supports towards a Housing First model.
In the months leading up to the 2025 provincial budget,the Right to Housing Coalition ran a campaign calling for a commitment to add 1,650 new social housing units, a $232M investment to repair the existing social housing supply, and funding to ensure social housing tenants have access to highly trained addictions, mental health and primary care professionals as well as community support workers. Budget 2025 committed to adding 670 social housing units, invested $71M to repair the existing social housing supply, and $2M to support rent subsidies and funding for programming/wraparound supports in new units coming online.
In 2022 the Right to Housing Coalition supported residents at Lions Place when the owners put the 287-unit non-profit housing complex for low to modest-income seniors and students up for sale. Residents advocated to ensure the housing stayed in the hands of the non-profit or public housing sector, but the building was sold to an Alberta-based publicly-traded residential real estate company in 2023. That year the Manitoba government provided $1.2M in subsidies over two years to the new private landlord so tenants wouldn’t need to pay higher rents.
The Right to Housing Coalition worked with residents to help secure a new $3.3M subsidy agreement over three years in 2025. Since the sale of Lions Place the Right to Housing Coalition has also advocated for the introduction of legislation to help prevent the sale of social housing that has received government funds. In March 2025, the Manitoba government introduced Bill 12 but it has been held back by the official opposition until the fall of 2025 when it is expected to proceed through the legislative process and pass by January 2026.