Aboriginal Housing Society project on hold

“Funding for that project was recently pulled by BC housing, and we’ve been deferred,” says Sundell. “Sadly, we don’t know the timeline for when they’ll pick it up again, but it’s one of the two big projects that we have in development that we’re almost shovel ready to go.”

And it’s not a surprise to Prince George-Mackenzie Conservative MLA, Kiel Giddens, who says the Community Housing Fund has been scaled back.

“But now all these non-profits who have gone to all that work to fundraise, they thought this fund was going to be available. All of a sudden, the rug has been pulled out from underneath them, and they’re actually, despite all their due diligence, their hard work, their own fundraising, some of them have even actually hit shovels in the ground. And now they’re finding that that fund has been taken away by the provincial government.”

And wait list for affordable housing is extensive.

“Demand is huge and it’s reflected very well in our waitlist,” says Sundell. “I don’t know exactly what the count is today, but last time I looked it was about 546.”

Just down the street from the Redwood Street property, work continues on the massive project. And their futures are also in jeopardy In March 2028, the federal Urban Native Housing Agreement expires and – at this point – is not set to be renewed.

“So that means anyone who is living in that housing and we have 99 units of housing. So essentially 100 families will lose their rental subsidy, which means they’ll be facing below market rents.”

The Society is asking tenants of those units to look at transfers.

by Cheryl Jahn

Aboriginal Housing Society project on hold

What's Trending