Single detached new home starts decreased 86 per cent last year, plummeting to six, the Central Housing and Mortgage Corporation (CMHC) says, from 43 in 2008.
Multiple family housing starts went from eight in 2008 to none last year. Single family starts went from went from 24 in 2007 to 43 in 2008 - an increase of 79.2 per cent - and the highest number of housing starts in at least six years. Multiple family housing starts went from two in 2007 to eight in 2008, all started in the final quarter.
Combined there were 51 housing starts in Thompson in 2008, compared to 26 in 2007, representing a 96.2 per cent increase.
Now that has dropped to six starts and an 86 per cent decrease.
The numbers for 2008 year would have be even higher if you used the city's criteria to calculate them. The Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation does not define the installation of a mobile home as a housing start, but the city does, accounting at times for a significant gap in numbers reported by the organization and the city. There were 32 mobile homes installations in the city during the first 10 months of 2008.
The most dramatic housing improvement happened in the fourth quarter of 2008. Statistics released by CMHC showed that 33 single detached homes were started in the final three months of the year, compared to nine for the same period in 2007. None were started in the fourth quarter of 2009, nor were there any multiple family housing starts. In 2008 there were eight, all started in the fourth quarter.
A June 2008 deal between Winn Can Properties Ltd. and the City of Thompson to build 110 new homes in the Burntwood South subdivision by the end of 2011 collapsed at the end of last year with no new homes being built. The developer has forfeited its $30,000 deposit and all the remains is to transfer property title back to the City of Thompson.
Winn Can, comprised of a Winnipeg group of investors, working in conjunction with Schickedanz West, a division of Calgary-based Schickedanz Bros. Construction, was to build the first 30 homes by the end of last year.
Based on market demand, there was hope the agreement might even lead to the development of more than 300 homes in the subdivision by Winn Can. However, there were recently 80 homes on the market and listed for sale in Thompson.
While 200 Manitoba Housing-owned units are planned as part of the student housing component at the new University College of the North campus here, in a mix of 100 mainly three and four-bedroom townhouse style multi-family units and another 100 dormitory units, that project has yet to start. Construction at the campus is expected to begin this year and wrap up in 2013.
Plans by Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corporation to develop its first low-income multi-family four and five-bedroom townhouses and row homes in Thompson since 1990 in the Rotary Park area of Deerwood were killed by city council almost a year ago. Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corporation wants to proceed in two phases, developing 10 of the multi-family four and five-bedroom townhouses and row homes in each phase for a total of 20 units.
Dwayne Rewniak, director of land development for the Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corporation in Winnipeg, said they had talks with the Keewatin Tribal Council (KTC) to explore the "potential that Keewatin Housing Association Inc. could manage the new homes under an agreement with the Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corporation" before council killed the project.
More successful, in what deputy mayor Harold Smith, chair of the city's development review committee, called "tipping point" last October is Grayling Place, KDS Development Ltd.'s 10-lot re-subdivision of the most westerly portion of Char Bay, off of Westwood Drive, to accommodate single-family housing development.
In a report to council from the committee, Smith said, "This market development represents a major shift from our previous development practices. Specifically, the city's role in this market development has been to negotiate and sign a development agreement, which included the transfer of land. The development did not rely on the financial resources of the City of Thompson, which are both limited, and subject to the annual passage of a financial plan.
"It is the committee's view," Smith said, "that the previous model for development contributed to the shortage of housing in Thompson in recent years, due to the inability of the market to respond to market demands. By moving away from its role as developer of lands for market housing, the city can focus efforts and resources in other areas that aren't as easily addressed through the market," Smith said.
The local principals who own KDS Development Ltd. include some of the most senior members of Smook Brothers (Thompson) Ltd., said Smith, specifically Ted Smook and Peter Paulic, vice-president of operations.
The city had listed the 2.82-acre parcel in its vacant land inventory and was asking about $551,250 for it at $6.00/square foot earlier this year.
It is zoned R-1 Single Family and requires only the construction of roads, sewer, water, curbs and sidewalks. Smith said installation of the infrastructure and street construction by KDS Development Ltd. is well under way.
Gary Ceppetelli, the city's director of planning and community development, said earlier permafrost was initially considered a problem, which is one of the reasons the land had remained vacant for years, but after re-drilling a few years ago it was determined the most westerly portion of Char Bay was suitable to develop.
