Regina’s Taylor Field to become home to aquatic centre, not affordable housing

In 2011, the City of Regina planned to build low-income housing on the grounds of Taylor Field. Today, the city says it will build an aquatic centre instead.

The old Taylor Field /Mosaic Stadium in Regina was torn down in 2017, but for the past seven years, the lot has been nothing more than a pile of dirt.

In 2011, the City of Regina and then-mayor mayor Pat Fiacco planned to build low-income housing on the land.

Last week, however, the city announced plans to build a new aquatic centre instead.

The decision is causing frustration for some people around the city, including Peter Gilmer, an advocate with the Regina Anti-Poverty Ministry.

“The need for low-cost housing at that time was extremely high, as it continues to be today,” Gilmer said.

“Now that we’ve got the combination of skyrocketing rents and extremely low vacancy rates, we think that low-cost housing should be a top priority of all levels of government. The city needs to make sure that facilitating the process of expanding low-cost housing is a top priority.”

According to the City of Regina, the “Taylor Field neighbourhood was part of the original Regina Revitalization Initiative Vision adopted by Council in 2011 which is to provide a neighbourhood that will provide mixed-income housing options, for purchase and rental.”

In 2023, the city continued to make progress on the project and was in the process of applying for funding from the provincial and federal governments.