For years, Whitehorse officials could only dream of turning this goldmine into a real estate treasure: a rare 12-acre parcel of partially empty federal land in the middle of a city experiencing some of the fastest population growth rapids of the country.

Municipal officials had questioned Ottawa several times on the ground. They presented strong arguments. The city needed more housing and the land was located on a main road with sewage treatment facilities, adjacent to the hockey arena and overlooking the municipal hiking trail. Hundreds of families could potentially live there, with plenty of space for businesses – and yet, on this eye-watering square plot, there was an aging heritage office building, a few smaller offices and a car park.

On Tuesday, Ottawa finally made it official: the land is up for grabs, making it number 83 of the federal properties currently on the block to be leased and redeveloped into much-needed homes for Canadians.

“It’s fantastic,” Whitehorse Mayor Kirk Cameron said Monday, already imagining what might now be possible on this valuable parcel of Range Road, in a city where such opportunities are rare. “We’ve been watching it avidly for years.”

In total, according to the federal government, The land currently available for inquiries or proposals totals over 2,500 hockey rinks. But, as the Globe and Mail project points out Wasted space revealed, making the list will be a lot easier than quickly building houses on all that land.

In April, the Liberal government announced ambitious plans to implement accommodation on all federal lands possible and reduce its office footprint by 50 percent. Instead of selling the land, as the government has done in the past, Ottawa would negotiate long-term leases with municipalities, non-profit groups and private developers. The first step was to create the Canadian Public Lands Bank, to openly identify and inventory all available parcels.

The federal government will announce on Tuesday that 12 new public properties have been added to this list, with more on the way, and that proposals to build houses on five properties are being assessed, while the submission date ends shortly for three more.

In an interview, Jean-Yves Duclos, Canada’s minister of Public Services and Procurement, said the government had received 320 applications for land on the overall list, but declined to say how many formal proposals had been made. submitted.

But he also said there are still many more properties to consider, especially since the government is still working with Crown corporations, including Canada Post, to identify all of their potential land.

Federal properties are now available for housing proposals in all provinces except Prince Edward Island. In addition to the Whitehorse plot, there are also two in the Northwest Territories. The properties include post offices, half-occupied offices, armories, military land, a former penitentiary. But not all of this land can be easily transformed into housing.

In June, The Globe, working with city planners, published a month-long study analyzing all federal land in communities with more than 10,000 residents and identifying properties close to homes and measuring at least half an acre, either vacant or with buildings of only one or two stories – conditions that make the land more accessible for housing construction. Proximity to existing residences also means the land is more likely to be close to infrastructure such as sewers and amenities such as schools and hospitals.

Comparing the Globe’s findings to According to Ottawa’s current list of public lands, only about a third of the 83 properties fit this definition of urban lazy land. The other properties were not included in the Globe’s final tally because the land was considered too small, too rural or owned by departments like DND or Correctional Service Canada, or already for sale. The Globe also excluded parks and green spaces, while a few parcels on the government’s list fall into this category.

In total, the Globe identified enough idle land with the potential to create housing for 750,000 Canadians. Canada Post, for example, has 157 post offices and depots close to homes in more than 100 municipalities, often in the heart of urban neighborhoods where housing is expensive and scarce. Developing all of these post offices – even leaving space for Canada Post on site – could create around 33,000 housing units.

“We don’t expect all of these properties to develop at the same speed,” Duclos said, adding that some of the best-located and most accessible urban properties will naturally attract more interest from developers. and will lead to housing more quickly. . But there could also be unexpected interest in more complex packages, he said. “We prefer to have a wide range of properties to be fully inclusive.”

In Whitehorse, Cameron says the city is eager to contribute to any proposals presented. After all, he can already see families heading to the hockey rink to skate or stroll the trail, creating a community on a land ready to wait for a second life. “We need to stay ahead of the curve,” he said, “to develop enough affordable housing to be able to enjoy the lifestyle here.”