After the provincial and federal government announced funding for Affordable Housing Strategies, Grande Prairie is taking a closer look at what they need.
Community Housing Coordinator Shanda Berns explains that a housing priorities list has been put together and low income family homes sits at the top. Coming in second is seniors housing.
“It is seeing what we have in stock in terms of how we are meeting our that need right now. What are the really fine pressure points? Is there anything in the city that already is meeting that need that has a wait list that we need to focus on with programming and streamlining that. Is this a completely new build?”
The analysis was done in May 2017 and it gives the city an idea of where money would go if they were to get funds for housing.
“So when the province says there is money for affordable housing coming down, we aren’t sure when that is going to happen. The city wants to be ready when that does happen so we do have target population and we do have a good idea of where we need to put this money for potential build.”
Over 500 family households are needed and over 250 units for seniors, according to data collected by the city.
The next step is figuring out how to address this need. Berns says it could be with programming or new builds.