City council voted in favour of approving the new funding deal for the True North Square project Thursday which sees increased funding to the plaza as well as tax breaks for the residential towers.
Councillors voted 14-2 to give the new funding plan the thumbs up, meaning the towers will now get $8.6-million in tax breaks with councillors Eadie and Schreyer voting against the plan.
But after the province encouraged the city to match its tax incremental funding of the high-end residential buildings, there was outcry about a lack of prioritization of affordable housing.
READ MORE: City closer to subsidizing luxury towers at True North Square
As a result, a motion amending the new agreement to provide funding for affordable housing coming from money made by the True North project was also passed Thursday,
That means True North will give 10 per cent of the property taxes generated from the towers back to the city for the first five years after the building becomes occupied.
Economic Development Winnipeg president and CEO Dayna Spiring said she supports affordable housing in the city, but doesn’t think this was the place to have that discussion.
“I think it’s unfortunate that this is the forum where we discuss affordable housing,” she said. “We need to think about all these issues. We’re going to have to debate them and we’re going to have to showcase ways that we can make our city better. I don’t think this was the forum to do it.”
The total grant funding would depend on the final property assessment once the luxury residential towers are completed, but it would provide an estimated $185,000 – 200,000.
Meth task force
Council also unanimously voted Thursday for an amendment put forward by councillor Russ Wyatt for the city to create and lead a crystal meth task force if the provincial and federal governments fail to create one in the next 60 days.