The Grande Spirit Foundation hopes to finalize plans for new social housing units in the Town of Sexsmith.
Originally there were six social housing units throughout Sexsmith. Grande Spirit Foundation General Manager Steve Madden says they decided to sell the original units and put the money aside for a localized entity.
“The houses were a bit inefficient because they are scattered around the town, so we decided to move towards something that was more commonly central.”
Madden says the Grande Spirit Foundation realized with their decision to build new centralized housing units, the construction costs would be higher than the value of the original houses. He says once the six housing units are sold, there will be roughly $1.2 million set aside. He believes they will need roughly five hundred thousand dollars in additional funds for the construction.
“We wanted to work together with Sexsmith as well as the province because the request is out to both entities to access funds to bridge the gap on a couple of costs.”
“So that we can get some new units constructed to provide updated and more energy efficiency…that was a big one for us…more energy efficient if possible and in a location that’s more common features as opposed to individual separated houses.”
Madden says the specifics of the new units are still up in the air. He says the land size and additional findings provided will determine what building style they decide on.
“We have a couple of preferences. If it needs to be an apartment, that’s good or if it’s maybe row housing or if it’s something that’s duplex style…. we don’t really know yet until we know what the land provides and how much funds were going to have available.”
Madden says once additional funding is decided on and a location for the new building, they will be able to finalize their decisions on specific details.