Up to 60 seniors will have affordable homes as of next fall now that construction of St. Albert's newest seniors' complex has begun.
Local dignitaries, including Alberta Seniors and Housing Minister Lori Sigurdson, St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse and Sturgeon County Mayor Tom Flynn braved the chilly October air Monday to break ground on phase two of North Ridge Place.
North Ridge Place is an affordable seniors housing complex next to the Youville Home run by the Sturgeon Foundation.
Budgeted at about $8.3 million – about 80 per cent of which is from the province – this four-storey 42 unit apartment complex will be located next to the current North Ridge Place building and will look a lot like it, except its bottom floor will be used for parking, said Dennis Magnusson, executive director of the Sturgeon Foundation.
Magnusson said construction should start in two weeks and wrap up in a year.
The need for affordable housing in this region is ever increasing, and this building was just the start when it came to addressing it, said St. Albert Coun. Wes Brodhead, a board member with the Sturgeon Foundation.
"We need to find the place for the next Chateau Mission Court."
Great need for homes
About 15,000 Alberta families are now on waiting lists for affordable homes, some of which are being closed due to some $1 billion in deferred maintenance, Sigurdson said.
"That means families are not being supported and seniors are not being supported the way they should be."
About 975 people in the Sturgeon Foundation's jurisdiction need affordable homes today, Magnusson said. There are more than 100 seniors on the foundation's wait list in St. Albert, of which this new facility could hold 60.
"Our needs are great," he said, and there's no more room on the North Ridge site after this complex gets built.
Brodhead said baby boomers like him will turn 60 soon and be looking to downsize their homes.
"This foundation and facilities like this need to be there when people can't look after themselves."
Brodhead noted that the foundation was also working on affordable housing projects in Morinville and Redwater.
The foundation has sketched out plans for up to 48 affordable apartment units just north of the town's cemetery that would be open to all ages, said vice-chair and Morinville Coun. Gordon Putnam. If built, these would be the first real affordable housing units in the town.
The town has a $750,000 grant from the province in the bank and has committed $1.7 million in land and servicing for the project, Putnam said.
"We're looking for the province to kick in the rest and get this going."
Putnam said he hoped to have more news about this project in a month or two.
