Housing Intervention and Neighbourhood Development: Harnessing Change in West Broadway

Abstract

During the period leading to the early 1990s the West Broadway area of inner city Winnipeg experienced many signs of neighbourhood decline, such as residential fires, housing abandonment and structural deterioration. From the mid 1990s considerable amounts of volunteer energy, public funding and philanthropic resources were devoted to turning the neighbourhood around, focusing efforts through community development, employment training, arts programs, housing upgrading and other themes. Many individuals and organizations combined their capabilities in the attempt to create an inclusive and diverse community.

The study Housing Intervention and Neighbourhood Development was grounded in the need to take stock of changes in the neighbourhood and to relate these to knowledge of the nature of neighbourhood change. It was intended that this would enable an informed assessment of whether dynamics such as gentrification, disinvestment and stabilization appear to be in operation in parts of the neighbourhood. This assessment, in turn, would support discussion of strategies that could be implemented to help guide how the neighbourhood would unfold.