Property Wrongs: The Seventy-Year Fight for Public Housing in Winnipeg

The City of Winnipeg had only undertaken two public housing projects until 1969, despite the need for adequate housing for low-income Winnipeggers. The struggle for public housing was a struggle for democracy, with only property owners able to vote until the 1960s. Today, public housing is under attack and is considered an embarrassing encumberment.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 06 June 2023
Publisher: Fernwood Publishing Co Ltd

Even though the failure of the market to provide adequate housing for low-income Winnipeggers had been apparent since the beginning of the century, the City of Winnipeg had only undertaken two public housing projects until 1969. Providing housing had become a significant issue in municipal politics by 1919, embraced by civic officials, professionals, reformers, labor leaders, and social democratic politicians. It also became a proxy issue for refighting the 1919 General Strike at city hall. However, Winnipeg's business community proved to be effective opponents of public housing.

The struggle for public housing was also a struggle for democracy. Until the 1960s, public housing required approval by a referendum in which only the city's property owners could vote. This rule deprived close to half the city's voters, and virtually everyone who might qualify to live in public housing, of the right to vote. Over decades, this barrier to democracy was whittled away. An NDP provincial government elected in 1969 added 11,144 units of public housing to the existing 568 units.

Today, public housing is once again under attack. Rather than being treated as valued public assets, they are considered embarrassing encumberments that should be sold as part of a process of turning public housing over to the private sector. The rupture in political memory of the long struggle to build public housing and the current political situation undermine the struggle to protect and expand the provision of non-profit housing.

Weight: 372g
Dimension: 228 x 152 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781773635972