Western Standard - Supporting affordable housing for those in need

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00:04:14.200 well good morning everybody and welcome first off let me thank the whole team here at onward

00:04:24.280 homes for hosting us today for nearly 50 years onward homes has been working to ensure every

00:04:30.040 calgarian has a safe appropriate and affordable place to call home and alberta's government is

00:04:35.480 proud to call them one of our housing partners along with the dozen dozens i should say of other

00:04:40.440 housing providers across the province that work together with my department each day to provide

00:04:45.160 tens of thousands of affordable homes to albertans now more than ever though it is crucial to come up

00:04:50.920 with solutions with our partners to to ensure albertans have homes that meet their needs

00:04:56.760 this is why alberta is making significant investments in increasing the stock of

00:05:00.920 affordable housing through measures like capital grants support for housing providers and rental

00:05:05.480 assistance. For example, with our partners, we're investing $9 billion between now and 2031 to

00:05:11.100 create 13,000 new units of affordable housing. That's in addition to the already 5,000 new

00:05:16.660 units of affordable housing that we've created since 2019. We continue to invest in rent

00:05:21.460 supplements, currently a quarter billion dollars going into rent supplements, providing tens of

00:05:26.240 thousands of households for Albertans in our province. That's on top of the $5.1 billion

00:05:31.220 dollars in affordability measures that alberta is investing in across the board to help albertans

00:05:36.180 tackle the affordability crisis the most of any province and confederation on top of that we

00:05:41.140 continue to focus on red tape reduction and infrastructure support to be able to make sure

00:05:45.380 that our cities and our construction industry can build all the homes that we will need now

00:05:49.620 and in the future which has resulted in alberta having the highest purpose-built rentals in our

00:05:53.940 history the highest housing starts in our history including another historical month this last

00:05:58.740 january where we saw in calgary the most housing starts in a january in the history of statistics

00:06:05.620 and i want to stress that is the most critical thing that we can do for housing going forward

00:06:09.140 is to continue to increase our supply to be able to make sure that we can maintain affordability

00:06:12.980 in the market at the same time though we need to make sure that our existing affordable housing

00:06:18.020 stock can remain open or if it is closed that it can be quickly repaired and brought back online

00:06:22.820 quickly so it can continue to provide a safe place for albertans to call home and that's why we are

00:06:28.420 We are working closely with our partners to make sure existing affordable housing is maintained

00:06:33.140 and repaired if needed.

00:06:34.300 Today, I'm going to announce another $1.2 million in this fiscal year to go into capital

00:06:39.460 maintenance and renewal funding.

00:06:41.700 This funding will provide key repairs that will keep 245 more homes online and continue

00:06:47.080 to provide a safe and affordable place for Alberta's families and seniors to call home.

00:06:51.660 For example, Onward Homes has a 59-unit building that is housing low-income Albertans, families

00:06:57.260 and seniors that is in need of a roof with this funding we can support onward homes to update

00:07:02.380 that roof which will keep that building open and those homes open capital maintenance and renewal

00:07:07.580 is a low-cost high-impact way that our government can keep housing available for albertans and it

00:07:12.780 will continue to be a major focus of my department in the coming years because of the significant

00:07:17.180 impact that it has which is why the province has invested this year alone 110 million dollars in

00:07:23.100 capital maintenance and renewal to help existing affordable housing units stay online last summer

00:07:28.300 for example i announced an additional 16 million dollars in new funding that ultimately brought 100

00:07:33.660 units back online and ensured 300 units were able to stay open with today's announcement that will

00:07:38.780 bring this number to a new to 645 units that otherwise would not be available for albertans

00:07:44.860 i want to thank our partners including onward homes and others who continue to work with us to

00:07:49.660 be able to make sure that we can meet the challenges that we see with the housing crisis

00:07:53.500 in our country because of your hard work albertans alberta continues to lead the way in this country

00:07:58.700 when it comes to the expansion of both attainable and affordable housing with real solutions that

00:08:03.500 are having record-breaking results that benefit albertans and keeping our province the most

00:08:08.060 affordable jurisdiction in the country thank you and i will now ask martina gila i always say it 0.98

00:08:15.740 wrong CEO of Onward Homes to come and say a few words whoopsie thanks very much Minister Nixon

00:08:27.340 and good morning everyone thank you for being here another cold day this is

00:08:34.220 turning into a bit of a tradition for us I'll be brief in my remarks sound asset management

00:08:41.100 is a cornerstone for providing safe and affordable homes the provincial investment will ensure that

00:08:48.060 onboard residents can continue to enjoy quality homes for years to come calgary's need for

00:08:55.900 affordable housing and particular the type of housing that we provide which is deep subsidy

00:09:02.860 housing for those who are very low income that need continues to be pressing and i also want

00:09:10.460 to say that the multi-family sector continues to be uh hit hard by pressures such as inflation

00:09:18.060 increasing costs various fees and taxes and so this much needed investment will really help our

00:09:24.940 bottom line and it will go a long way um and um you know i was thinking about this and this

00:09:33.180 particular investment because we are investing in repairing uh building envelope and the roof

00:09:38.300 will really quite literally provide roof over people's heads so we are really grateful to

00:09:44.060 the province so thanks very much to minister nixon thanks very much to the provincial

00:09:48.540 government for investing in onboard homes and in our residents and in our buildings thank you

00:09:57.340 can we now have uh kyle from uh silvera kyle fawcett come up and say a few words

00:10:02.780 yes uh well thank you very much and uh thank you minister uh for this uh much needed announcement

00:10:12.860 uh as the minister uh indicated in his previous remarks uh investing in the capital maintenance

00:10:19.340 and renewal of the existing housing stock is a low-cost way to make sure families and seniors

00:10:27.980 uh remain housed through these challenging circumstances uh and uh you know not being

00:10:33.580 able to keep the the current affordable housing stock open that we currently have uh would only

00:10:40.380 acerbate the problem that we're currently facing so this is a a much welcome uh announcement um

00:10:48.220 and it's important that we make sure you know as we're navigating uh through these challenging

00:10:53.980 times and trying to deliver affordable housing for our our community members be it families or

00:11:00.940 or seniors that we make sure that we're investing in all types of housing and whether it be for

00:11:09.340 for seniors for families some that require deep subsidization and and others that require just

00:11:17.900 a little bit of help and we believe that this funding will help keep a spectrum of housing

00:11:25.340 available to those seeking safe affordable housing in today's current market the final

00:11:33.180 thing that i i will just add is that you know as as we move forward and continue to work with the

00:11:39.340 the minister and his government to address this significant challenge that we work collaboratively

00:11:49.540 and we look for solutions that are both short, provide short-term relief and long-term relief

00:11:59.160 to the housing sector. And with that, I, you know, again, want to thank the minister and his

00:12:05.760 government uh for stepping up to the plate and supporting our organizations thanks so much kyle

00:12:12.960 we're now going to move to our question and answers uh we're going to start with reporters

00:12:17.840 in the room mike's at the back uh one question one follow-up so uh we'll start state your name

00:12:23.360 and outlet thank you uh aaron with live our calgary minister 1.2 million dollars how many

00:12:28.320 projects in calgary is this going to cover and when are the checks going to be in the mail

00:12:31.440 uh checks will be in the mail immediately this is going to be funding in this fiscal year which is

00:12:36.480 coming to an end one of the reasons why we're quickly adding uh this on as we get to the end

00:12:40.320 of the budget year where we see some space and i want to make sure that we utilize it to create

00:12:44.160 more units uh this will go to about seven major housing partners across the province will create

00:12:48.880 245 more units across alberta on top of the uh the 400 units already created with that additional

00:12:55.680 16 million dollars announced uh last summer detailed breakdown of calgary versus elsewhere

00:13:01.040 we can provide you afterwards i don't have it right in front of me follow-up yeah is this going

00:13:05.680 to funding really looking like in the 2024 budget you know i think uh i'm as you know i can't tell

00:13:11.120 you what's going to be in the budget next week though i think that uh you will see in the budget

00:13:15.280 that our government remains committed to tackling some of the great social issues of our time

00:13:20.000 including housing while at the same time making sure that alberta remains an economic powerhouse

00:13:24.960 in a fiscally strong province. I look forward to having more to say about that after Minister

00:13:29.680 Horner puts the budget in next Thursday. What I will say though, and I alluded to it in my remarks,

00:13:35.280 is that we see capital maintenance and renewal investments as one of the key ways forward,

00:13:39.360 particularly in the short term as we work on housing. We are investing billions of dollars

00:13:44.640 in affordable housing and attainable housing measures across the province, but it takes time

00:13:48.720 to build things. And so what we've learned with this process is we can invest minimal money,

00:13:53.760 frankly uh in capital maintenance compared to brand new projects with bigger results

00:13:58.560 as far as the unit numbers now that has capacity of where that would end and that is not the only

00:14:03.040 solution uh but i can uh you know i can assure housing providers that we see capital maintenance

00:14:07.440 renewal investments as a key way going forward to help albertans any more questions on the floor

00:14:12.640 i'll get you to specifics about onwards uh project that would come from this funding

00:14:26.820 but this funding could be made available specifically to make sure that units will

00:14:31.420 stay online or come online that cannot be available that could come to an investment

00:14:35.080 like roofs elevators is often a common one where units have come offline or units themselves that

00:14:41.020 may have a specific maintenance issues with them specifically for onward how

00:14:45.760 they're using this funding I'll let Martina specify thanks for that and I

00:14:53.380 don't have much to add the funding is for building envelope and roof roof

00:14:59.140 replacements for this no not for this building I apologize no for a different

00:15:04.540 property horizon 14 um just uh about about a kilometer away from here

00:15:12.700 yes sorry i apologize yes this building was completed recently and it doesn't

00:15:17.340 uh need a roof replacement so thanks for that clarification thanks colleen

00:15:24.140 we're going to move to the phones operator first caller please

00:15:27.020 I have more of a technical question on the Stronger Foundations plan, because you mentioned

00:15:37.260 the $9 billion being invested with partners.

00:15:41.760 How much of that $9 billion is coming from the province, and what's the breakdown for

00:15:47.660 the other partners?

00:15:48.660 I don't have the breakdown, obviously the whole $9 billion at the podium with me, but

00:15:53.940 work very closely with our municipal partners our housing authority partners and the federal

00:15:57.780 government uh to be able to do the stronger foundations plan which will result in 13 000

00:16:02.660 new units we are we'll be looking at expanding the ambition of the stronger foundations plan based on

00:16:08.180 the challenges that we're seeing with housing but that is the start of where we're at and

00:16:11.620 been working on as a province for the last several years and the province's contribution to that

00:16:15.460 would be in the billions catherine follow-up yeah on a on a unrelated note the the ndp are expected

00:16:23.940 to have a news conference a little bit later specifically about bow valley housing and i know

00:16:29.220 um that was a question that came up with the tourism strategy um and adding this immigration

00:16:35.140 stream for um for service workers specifically um what what can we expect to see specifically

00:16:44.500 for housing in bow valley well first just last year i believe we invested about 10 million dollars

00:16:51.780 in an affordable housing project to help with staffing issues in the bow valley area

00:16:56.100 we are interested in continuing to invest in affordable housing any community including

00:17:00.260 camor that said the premier and i have been both clear municipalities that will not get projects

00:17:07.220 approved and continue to shut down existing housing projects as camor has just done recently when it

00:17:13.700 comes with with some of the housing projects that you see in the bow valley are not going to be

00:17:18.180 communities going forward where there will be priority funding and so the number one thing that

00:17:21.940 cammore and the bow valley need to do if they want to see large investments of affordable housing in

00:17:26.500 their community from us or the federal government who have both been clear then they better start

00:17:30.980 approving projects because our government is focused on getting money out the door shovels in

00:17:36.180 the ground and units built for people to live in and are not interested in seeing multi-million

00:17:42.260 dollar housing projects being blocked by municipal governments going forward so if bow valley wants

00:17:48.100 to see more affordable housing of which i do believe that they need the very first step that

00:17:51.780 they need to do is to start approve the projects that are already in place and have been through

00:17:55.220 environmental assessments and make sure that we can build the doors that's needed in the

00:17:58.580 bow valley for the future operator next caller thank you sandra stanway brooks bulletin good

00:18:07.380 Good morning. This actually may be a follow-up to the previous question.

00:18:10.780 Can you please speak to how the government is going to be helping rural communities,

00:18:15.920 communities that have no affordable housing units at all left, please?

00:18:20.480 Well, I think that that's a bit of a broad statement to say that there's communities in rural Alberta

00:18:26.820 that have no affordable housing left.

00:18:28.560 I think what you probably mean is that there are lots of communities that are at maximum capacity

00:18:32.040 on things particularly like seniors housing, which is a common thing that we hear in rural Alberta.

00:18:36.260 Our investments that I've just outlined here are for both urban and rural communities.

00:18:40.900 We've announced dozens of projects over the last year across the province when it comes to helping rural Alberta.

00:18:49.520 This announcement in particular around capital maintenance and renewal,

00:18:53.560 one of the reasons that we wanted to move forward with this over the last year is because we saw big impacts when it comes to rural Alberta

00:18:59.860 with lots of units that were offline and that could quickly come on with minimal investment.

00:19:04.400 You'll see in the coming weeks as we lead up to the budget, as well as right after the budget,

00:19:08.140 where we will continue to announce some pretty significant projects all across rural Alberta.

00:19:12.900 I want to stress that this government will not leave rural Alberta behind,

00:19:17.780 and they will continue to be a top priority for us when it comes to investing in housing.

00:19:22.080 Sandra, follow-up?

00:19:24.520 No, thank you.

00:19:26.500 All right, that's all the time we have for the press conference today.

00:19:30.000 just have Martina and Kyle come up for a photo op for the cameras. Thank you.

Western Standard - February 26, 2024

Supporting affordable housing for those in need

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