County eyes attainable housing

By Adelle Ellis, Times Reporter

The possible creation of a society or not-for-profit dedicated to an attainable housing initiative was debated during Wheatland County council’s Aug. 15 regular meeting.
Some groundwork has been done for the possible project including speaking with a developer who would like to work with the economic development board to bring in affordable and attainable housing to communities in Wheatland County, such as Gleichen.
“As part of the economic development board (in Wheatland County), what they are working on is attainable housing,” explained Councillor Alice Booth. “We have to have an association formed to work under attainable housing in Alberta for the government part of it.”
Booth noted that over 200 proposed houses can be built in Gleichen that meet the Alberta government’s standard for attainable houses.
“Affordable housing is housing under the government’s mandate starting at around the $100,000 to $150,000 mark and can go up from there,” said Booth. She added that the economic development committee is interested in the creation of houses around $250,000, including the price of the lot and the house, which still falls under the category of attainable housing in the government’s mandate.
Several councillors believed Booth to be jumping the gun by suggesting the creation of a society before more information about the suggested initiative was provided to council and a business case created.
“We have other societies in the county that are committees of council and they are in partnership with the villages and Town of Strathmore and they lay the groundwork. But what is this society going to gain for us? Who is this society for and what is the purpose of it?” asked Reeve Glenn Koester, who added he was not sold on creating a separate “attainable housing society” entity before researching the possible creation of the project.
“We don’t know how successful it is, how much work it is … I don’t see a clear-cut purpose for it or why we would even do it,” he said.
Upon reviewing the request to form a society or not-for-profit, several councillors were confused about what attainable housing is.
Questions revolved around whether it is set up as a grant system supported through the county, or if the intent is to build cheap houses to fill the communities within the county.
Booth responded that the project the economic development committee has been looking at is to build affordable – not cheap – houses through a program with the Alberta government. People who would like to purchase attainable housing would be able to do so if they qualify for a mortgage on the house, pay the required down payment and make payments through whichever banks the government has set the program up with.
It was noted the proposed project would be created so that it could work in any community within Wheatland County. If the project passed, attainable houses could start being built in Gleichen and could later follow the same format in other villages within the County that have room for more houses.
“My concern is … when you say affordable housing, you’re still not explaining to me what affordable housing is,” said Deputy Reeve Ben Armstrong, who added no information has been brought to council and there hasn’t been a discussion about the project.
“If there is information to bring back maybe that should happen first: how much is it going to cost, how many houses, what is it going to look like, who finances it, how do you get (a house), who’s coming out to buy all these houses, what is the council responsible for,” said Koester.
“We haven’t had (a discussion) yet so we haven’t decided what we want to do. I don’t know what I’m voting for.”
In the end, council passed a motion to engage an outside party to provide a business case for attainable housing within Wheatland County.
“I agree, I think we need to have more information come back to the council to look at so you understand what attainable housing is,” said Booth.