Thirty-five infill houses were added last year and submitter Tim Easton suggested council employ a staff member to progress it.
Councillor Rob Vinsen suggested selling Whanganui's $13 million pensioner housing portfolio to a private provider and investing the money in low-cost housing.
Whanganui mayor Hamish McDouall and councillor Philippa Baker-Hogan put housing second only to climate change in importance, and councillor Jenny Duncan said the $200,000 would be put toward the action part of the plan.
Councillor Charlie Anderson was the only one to vote against it.
Meanwhile, he and councillors Rob Vinsen and Graeme Young voted against an allocation of $140,000 toward a climate change strategy.
Vinsen said that money would only pay for a new staff role.
McDouall and councillors Alan Taylor, Helen Craig and Josh Chandulal-Mackay said climate change was a bigger threat than a pandemic and needed to be planned for.
"We would look silly if we don't fund this, after declaring a climate emergency," Chandulal-Mackay said.
Council's $90,000 digital strategy was voted through with Anderson also against that.
"I don't see that $90,000 of taxpayer money is going to make one iota of difference," he said.
Others said digital connection had proved essential during the lockdown, and had helped in education, family connections and business.
They voted to reduce the Uniform Annual General Charge component of rates from $831 per property to $700. This would even out rates and help the owners of properties that have recently had big valuation hikes, Baker-Hogan said.
Whanganui Regional Museum was given an extra $75,000 in funding - less than it asked for.
The museum is "a poor relation" in Whanganui's cultural institutions and really needed that money, Vinsen said.
Former councillor David Bennett submitted that council should sell its stake in GasNet Whanganui.
Bennett's argument that owning GasNet is inconsistent with the council's climate change position has merit, McDouall said.
He deferred a decision on GasNet until the council decides whether its CCO Whanganui Holdings should become an investment arm or remain a holding company.
He opposed selling Whanganui's pensioner housing, which Bennett also advocated.
Council officers will be asked to find out what the impact of paying all council staff the living wage would be - something submitters have been asking for years. Councillors will then make a decision about it.
The Whanganui Resource Recovery Centre will be asked to provide a business case for the extra $144,000 it may need to continue operating. Some of the deficit is due to a drop in the market for paper and cardboard, Vinsen said.
Councillors voted to borrow $1 million for a second sealed taxiway for Whanganui Airport.
Property manager Leighton Toy said it could attract $3 million in additional Government funding.
It was important for safety now that Whanganui is the seventh busiest airport in New Zealand, and would be a long term asset even if the New Zealand International Commercial Pilot Academy suffers in a Covid-19 air travel downturn, Toy said.
McDouall said councillors shouldn't assume the flight school is "holed below the waterline".
"The industry may contract, but there will still be a need for aircraft and pilots."
He thanked councillors for a robust but not "bruising" day. Councillors will vote to adopt the Annual Plan on June 23.
Meanwhile, council's chief financial officer Mike Fermor said 11 New Zealand councils have managed a nil rate increase this year.
Reducing loan repayments helped Whanganui get to 1.4 per cent, McDouall said. The council's debt is will be $122.3 million in June 2021, Fermor said, which allows space for further borrowing.
