Winnipeg's Desire for Density

"The City of Winnipeg is close to unveiling a small battery of incentives to create more housing downtown and redevelop vacant buildings in the heart of the city.

City planners are working on expanding existing tax refunds that speed the construction of new condominium and apartment buildings in downtown Winnipeg, the new president of development agency CentreVenture said on Monday.

Other sources say the city is also planning to stimulate the redevelopment of empty buildings and vacant lots through a mechanism known as a tax-increment financing zone. The gist is, increased property taxes generated by improvements within a specific portion of downtown could be funnelled back into other projects in the same area -- instead of that tax money flowing straight into city coffers."