ManitobaThe first steps were taken on Wednesday toward building affordable housing on the former Kapyong Barracks site in southwest Winnipeg.At least 40% of homes built by federal government priced below market valueCBC News · Posted: Nov 12, 2025 2:28 PM EST | Last Updated: November 12Listen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham is flanked by Doug Eyolfson, left, and Benn Carr, right, during Wednesday’s housing announcement. (Jeff Stapleton/CBC)The first steps were taken on Wednesday toward building affordable housing on the former Kapyong Barracks site in southwest Winnipeg.A number of Manitoba Liberal MPs, along with Mayor Scott Gillingham, announced the process has begun to find potential contractors for 320 homes earmarked for a section of the massive Naawi-Oodena site.”This is a proud moment for Winnipeg and a model for how we can keep building our city in a responsible and affordable manner and doing so together,” Gillingham said at a news conference on Block C of the site — south of Taylor Avenue near Morpeth Boulevard.”Naawi-Oodena shows us what’s possible when all levels of government, Indigenous governments included, share a common vision — a vision of growth, a vision to build housing, infrastructure and economic opportunity.”The federal government announced in September that Naawi-Oodena had been chosen as one of the Build Canada Homes sites. The BCH agency is tasked with building 4,000 modular affordable units across the country.Wednesday’s announcement was simply that requests for qualifications from potential builders are now being accepted.”Those that have the capacity to develop now have the ability to formally begin the process of putting forward … qualifications for why they might be capable of developing the land,” said MP Ben Carr (Winnipeg South Centre). The project calls for a mix of unit sizes, including family-size units and building heights between two and 10 storeys.At least 40 per cent of the homes will be at below-market value for those with moderate and median incomes.The master plan for Naawi-Oodena envisions a mix of residential and commercial space as well as community spaces and recreational facilities. (Treaty One Development Corporation/Canada Lands Company)The 320 homes will be on the Canada Lands Company portion of Naawi-Oodena. Canada Lands, a federal Crown corporation, has 20 hectares of the 65-hectare Naawi-Oodena, which means “centre of the heart and community” in the Anishinaabe language.The other 45 hectares is owned by the Treaty One Nations, a group of seven First Nations.When fully developed, the entire Naawi-Oodena site is expected to have 2,100 homes along with spaces for commercial, community, cultural, educational, sports and recreational uses.”The broader development of the land around us will be mixed-use, but this specifically as part of building Canada homes is about residential use,” Carr said about Wednesday’s announcement. “This has been 25-plus years in the making so … it’s a really big deal.”The Naawi-Oodena site has been vacant since 2004, when the Kapyong barracks closed. The federal government initially tried to sell the land in 2008, but the Treaty One Nations challenged the sale, arguing the right to acquire the land under outstanding treaty land entitlement claims.In 2015, a judge ruled that the government had failed to adequately consult with the First Nations over the sale, and the land transfer was ruled illegitimate.The federal government eventually stopped fighting that decision and the land transfer to Treaty One Nations was made official in 2019.The land was formally repatriated in 2022, making it largest urban reserve in Canada.WATCH | Federal initiative building 320 new homes in Winnipeg:Federal initiative building 320 new homes in WinnipegMore affordable housing is on the horizon in Winnipeg. The federal government is accepting development offers to build 320 new homes on the Naawi-Oodena property near Kenaston Boulevard. It’s part of a federal initiative to build thousands of affordable homes across the country.
Naawi-Oodena takes another step toward development of 300-plus homes
