REGINA — A new housing strategy in Regina could shape the community for the next six years.
On Wednesday, Regina’s executive committee was presented with a revamped guideline, the Regina Housing Strategy, which is intended to replace the existing 2013 Comprehensive Housing Strategy.
“This strategy is guided by a mission statement that everyone in Regina has a safe, affordable and suitable home,” said Deborah Bryden, deputy city manager of city planning and community development.
Bryden said the housing market in Regina has changed significantly over the past 13 years, creating a need for a new approach.
“We have experienced a pandemic, rapid inflation, the uncertainty of tariffs escalating housing prices and generational population growth that has seen Regina grow from 210,000 people to more than 263,000 people.”
Through community consultations, the strategy will focus on four priorities: increasing the housing supply, diversifying housing options, supporting people at risk and building strategic capacity.
Those priorities have been broken down into 36 actions, with timelines categorized as now, ongoing and next.
One action includes establishing community land trusts, where properties owned by the city would be transferred to property owners who would develop and maintain affordable housing units.
Maria Vaiaso of CHF Canada said the city should be willing to take risks to ensure non-profit organizations are overseeing housing projects.
“We’ve seen projects going to private contractors [in other cities] who commit to providing affordable housing for 10 or 25 years at best, and the housing co-operatives who are built into their legislation need to be housing affordably forever aren’t able to access that level of funding and partnership from municipalities.”
Vaiaso said the city should reduce restrictions around requirements for equity and organizational history.
Meanwhile, former Regina city councillor William Wells said the strategy should prioritize building affordable housing throughout all areas of the community.
“If you built social housing in all subdivisions, it wouldn’t stand out; it would be part of the norm.”
Wells said children growing up in fragmented neighbourhoods can experience lower educational outcomes and reduced career expectations.
“But if they’re part of a large community, their success rate is higher.”
Changes to actions
Ward 5 Coun. Sarah Turnbull raised concerns about wording related to amendments to the National Building Code of Canada that support increased housing development, including allowing single stairwell designs for multi-family residential buildings.
“We do not value-engineer our citizens' safety in communities. We don’t do that,” she said while proposing an amendment to the action.
Turnbull referenced the tragic incident that claimed the life of 11-year-old Henry Losco in Regina last December, after a carbon monoxide leak from a boiler spread undetected throughout an apartment building.
The incident led the province to mandate that all multi-unit residential buildings have carbon monoxide alarms installed in every suite.
With a background in project management, Turnbull said she was concerned removing one staircase could create safety risks.
“If one staircase is obstructed, that would mean you have a bunch of people trapped in a building.”
Autumn Dawson, director of planning and development services with the City of Regina, said other jurisdictions across Canada are exploring whether having a single staircase in a dwelling is a viable change.
She added the purpose of the action is to examine potential safety options while ensuring any changes continue to meet safety standards.
Any changes made to building codes and safety requirements would come through updates to the National Building Code of Canada, Dawson explained.
Ultimately, council voted 8-2 in favour of changing the wording to ensure any future changes would not reduce safety or accessibility.
Meanwhile, Mayor Chad Bachynski presented a passed referral motion, directing the new strategy to return to Regina's exec committee in Sept.
Bachynski explained this referral is about sending a clear communication to the public.
"The main piece of the referral is to distinguish the items we clearly have control over versus the ones in terms of the advocacy that we don't."
