City backs northeast housing project despite objections

It took more than seven hours, in an at times combative executive committee meeting, to approve a new housing facility in northeast Regina.

There were accusations the city had been “underhanded” in its decision to locate the project at 120 Broad St., and mistrust over what the facility is and who will be housed in it.

Debate centred around where the 29-unit facility — which will be run by Silver Sage Housing in conjunction with the Regina Treaty and Status Indian Services (RTSIS) — will be located and why it is is available to all genders.

The building is very close to Imperial Community School and a seniors care home.

“I think part of the concern — and I have heard this directly as well, and it has been admitted in public clearly — is about community engagement,” Mayor Sandra Masters told reporters after Wednesday’s meeting. “In the absence of information, misinformation tends to abound.

“Everything from what type of housing it is to how it will be run, those things tend to be filled in in the absence of information. So I think where there was a little bit of a misstep for sure is reaching out to the community about where the location had been determined, just to start providing that information so rumours didn’t continue to breed.”

Masters maintained many in the community thought this was similar to the shelter the city had recently been involved in to find space for those living in Camp Hope, the series of tents where homeless and vulnerable people had been living this fall.

This project is what is known as “second stage,” where someone transitions from an emergency shelter into something more permanent with the supports to ensure they don’t end up homeless again.

“This is second stage housing with wraparound supports and 24-hour support,” Masters said. “Those supports include the teaching of life skills, gaining education or employment, training, perhaps counselling, family reunification.

“Let’s use the example of dads who have lost access to their kids and due to separation can’t afford a house of their own and are then denied access to their kids. This could be somewhere where that dad could live and still have access to his children.”

Masters added had the city provided more information from the outset and more “clearly articulated” what the facility was, it might have avoided “some of the fear that gets created.”

The city entered a purchase agreement to buy the site in order to receive $7.8 million from the federal government. That land is being transferred to Silver Sage Housing, which will build the facility with RTSIS providing the supports to those living there.

With a further $783,000 from the provincial government, the building is expected to have residents living there by the end of this year.