New Affordable Housing Project Underway in Dawson Creek

Saturday, October 10, 2009 05:45 AM

Dawson Creek, B.C.- Construction is underway for Driver House, a new $10.9-million development that will provide 25 units of affordable housing for Aboriginal seniors and families in Dawson Creek.

The Dawson Creek Native Housing Society’s (DCNHS) Driver House, located at 10432 – 17th St. in Dawson Creek, will provide 25 units of affordable housing for seniors and families. This new development will be comprised of one-, two- and three-bedroom units to provide for the housing needs of both seniors and families.
The original land was donated to DCNHS by Lola Wall. Additional land was donated by the City of Dawson Creek. The site is located close to public transportation, a shopping centre, community centre, public pool, library and medical services.

Construction is expected to be complete in September 2010, with occupancy anticipated for October 2010.

The Province is providing a capital grant of $10.6 million, the land for the building site was donated by Lola Wall and is valued at $130,000. The City of Dawson Creek donated additional land, adjacent to the site, estimated at $130,000 for the project.

“This development will make a real difference for families and individuals who will call it home, and the community of Dawson Creek as a whole,” said Mayor Mike Bernier, City of Dawson Creek. “I look forward to seeing this neighbourhood grow and evolve with the addition of this development.”

Dawson Creek Native Housing Society (DCNHS) will operate and manage the development.

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Posted on Saturday, October 10, 2009 05:45 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Outwest on October 10 2009 8:41 AM

Do I read this right, 25 Units for 10.9 Mill, this comes to 436000 per Unit tell me what are they building ? Affordable Housing give me a Break , on top of it the Land was donated.

Posted by: Vdesign on October 10 2009 8:44 AM

10.9 million divided by 25 units is $436,000 each, not exactly what I would term affordable housing.

Posted by: lmorge on October 10 2009 9:34 AM

Will caucasian people be allowed to reside there?

Posted by: gus on October 10 2009 12:05 PM

I agree 300% with those that identified the cost per unit!!!!

There is absolutley nothing AFFORDABLE about that! It might be affordable to those who are paying 20% of market rent, but it is not affordable to the taxpayer in this province, now or in the future.

Run this through a sustainability exercise and it will fail miserably!!!

Give me some information about what else is included with this? Maid service? Swimming pools? Gymnasium?

I recall that a year ago Mr. Bliss did not go ahead with building a condo on 7th because it would have to sell for about $350,000 or so per unit. Here we are building this building not for private enterprise but for public housing.

BC Housing needs to be overhauled big time!!!

Posted by: gus on October 10 2009 1:23 PM

{url]http://www.bchousing.org/programs/Aboriginal_housing/AHI/developments[/url]

Dawson Creek is just the 10% tip of the iceberg. The link above shows the full 220 units being developed in BC.

Here is the about 50% of the money source:

http://www.bchousing.org/programs/Aboriginal_housing/AHI

"Aboriginal Housing Initiative was launched in 2007 with plans to develop over 200 units of off-reserve Aboriginal housing. This housing will create safe, secure and culturally-appropriate housing for youth, women, elders, and those who are struggling with addiction. This initiative is funded in part through a $50.9 million grant from the Off-Reserve Aboriginal Housing Trust, which had been transferred from the Government of Canada to the Province of B.C. "

Posted by: gus on October 10 2009 1:24 PM

http://www.bchousing.org/programs/Aboriginal_housing/AHI/developments

Posted by: gus on October 10 2009 1:37 PM

In Willyums Lake the are building 33 uits for $7.9 million at about $240,000/unit.http://www.bchousing.org/news/news_releases/2009/09/03/5590_0909031038-273

The news release gives a bit more information about what is bing built.

That is quite a premium for building in Dawson Creek instead of Willyums Lake!!

That development cost relief of $57 thousand is paid for by the City taxpayers of Willyums Lake. There are actually cities in the USA that are going backrupt because of such tax reliefs. Camden, NJ has only 60% of its landholders paying property taxes because of such developments in its community. They are $50million in the hole as a result and constantly have to be bailed out by the State.

Posted by: gus on October 10 2009 1:43 PM

One more. Kamloops.

http://www.bchousing.org/news/news_releases/2009/04/08/5590_0904081146-863?pageNumber=5

That one works out to $326,000 per unit for 19 units. The City's taxpayers are contributing $157,000.

Posted by: Moses on October 10 2009 2:19 PM

'Will caucasian people be allowed to reside there?'

No.

Posted by: gus on October 10 2009 3:02 PM

From the Caucasus?

Posted by: Harbinger on October 10 2009 7:04 PM

My house is "culturally appropriate". I bought it with a down payment. And I am still struggling with my addiction to debt and taxes. TSK. TSK. TSK.

Posted by: BC Mary on October 11 2009 8:35 AM

Seems like this is a straightforward, no-nonsense complaint about extremely high costs being foisted upon communities ...

and any British Columbian, by now, can read between the lines to see the possibilities for graft and corruption: all that unnecessary surplus money probably won't be going into the quality of "affordable" housing. No way. It will be creamed off for consultants, planners, advisors, promoters, public relations, lawyers, and the like.

Wouldn't you agree that practical people in local communities could build excellent 19-unit housing projects for, probably $100,000 per unit? True for the honest citizens in any BC community.

Letters of complaint, right now, would go a long way toward re-assessing the issue. These complaints that you've made here, should be set out in letters to your local MLA (stipulating that you want a written reply explaining these costs), and

to the BC Minister of Housing (ditto).

Because why? Because our well-paid MLAs need to be reminded (or informed) that citizens are watching what they do. And that citizens are capable of doing such things for themselves, for a rational cost to the community.

And for hugely improved human benefits all around.
.

Posted by: MrPG on October 11 2009 12:40 PM

I pay my taxes and mortgage. I'm such a sucker.

Posted by: Outwest on October 11 2009 5:31 PM

The Money Source for all this nice Housing is not coming from Grants or the Government it is fully paid by us the Taxpayer.

Posted by: gus on October 12 2009 9:49 AM

Actually the mint prints the money. It then gets circulated.

The key operating word there is "circulated", as in a circle. There is no beginning and there is no end, supposedly.

In reality, people can remove money from the national economy, as one example only, when they invest somewhere else and the investment goes sour.

If, however, they invest in Canada to a venture that pays Canadians, the investement stays in the circle.

In my mind, who pays for what is really not important, other than to keep some sort of balance of effort and reward.

Of course, we all know that that is kind of wonkey when a youngster get almost $100,000 for doing virtually nothing of any real consequence at City Hall, certainly nothing that is life threatening, while someone, as just one example, who does cancer research and is part of a chain of people working to save lives gets only $40 or so thousand even though they have a PhD and are doing their post doc for 3 years so that they can be recognized as a real researcher and can get $60 to $70 thousand.