Housing developer criticizes province’s work on affordable housing

Saskatchewan has one of the highest rates of domestic or interpersonal violence in the country, but a local housing developer believes the provincial government isn’t doing enough to help.

Last week, Avana Developments announced a new housing development in Regina to have second-stage housing for families fleeing violence, and some units to provide housing after second-stage housing runs out.

A federal minister was on hand for the announcement and the City of Regina put in money for it, but the provincial government wasn’t involved.

That situation wasn’t anything new for Avana; the company’s president and CEO, Jennifer Denouden, said the company has been at the table with the provincial government since starting in 2014 but hasn’t been able to get the province to join in.

“Every single year, we have approached them to try and work together like we have the city and the federal government and you can obviously see how successful we’ve been in that,” said Denouden.

Denouden witnessed interpersonal violence as a child, so she said the issue is near to her heart. She also talked about how it’s a huge problem in Saskatchewan, and said the YWCA in Regina has to turn away 3,000 people a year because it doesn’t have the space.

“It’s just a space that we really needed to step up because, quite frankly, the provincial government has not,” said Denouden.

Denouden feels so strongly in this that she said her family has committed $1.2 million in operating funding to Sofia House in Regina and $2 million to the YWCA.

“The need to do that wouldn’t exist if our provincial government were really standing up and serving the most vulnerable population, women and children, in our province,” said Denouden.

Denouden doesn’t believe the issue is a priority for the provincial government.

Avana is able to do the work on affordable housing because of the national housing strategy the federal government introduced a few years ago, according to Denouden. She said the strategy made the projects much more attractive to developers, but at the same time, she said the company could likely do twice as many in a year if the provincial government pitched in.

“Although we were able to get where we are without provincial support, I would hope that the next developer behind us that wants to make an impact in this community and wants to develop affordable housing, maybe the provincial government will listen,” said Denouden.

Because of that lack of support from the Saskatchewan government, Denouden said Avana has started moving its business into Alberta — to the tune of about $90 million a year.

“(Alberta is) very supportive when we’re building the units and they’re also very supportive of second-stage shelters when those units are ready, so they fund operating expenses for the shelters,” said Denouden.

The NDP was pushing the social services minister on the issue on Monday during Question Period. In a series of questions, both MLA Nicole Sarauer and MLA Meara Conway asked why the government doesn’t fund second-stage shelters for families fleeing interpersonal violence.

Conway later said the province is missing in action on this front and called on the minister to address this issue. Sarauer said the government isn’t taking the issues of interpersonal violence seriously.

In response to the questions, Minister Lori Carr congratulated Avana on its federal funding for the project last week and talked about what the provincial government has done on affordable housing since it took power in 2007. She said it has created 12,000 housing units and repaired 5,800 affordable units.

“I wouldn’t call that missing in action, I would call that working hard on a portfolio for the Province of Saskatchewan,” said Carr.

Denouden later said Avana has built the same number of units in the last three years.

“I would be ashamed, if I were them, of the work that I’d done rather than proud,” said Denouden.

Carr talked about programs they have for people in need, saying there are lots of people and organizations looking for funding but not every one can be approved.

“It’s impossible for us to fund every single organization that comes to us for money … but what we do when we are looking at all of these organizations is we see what the immediate need is at that point in time and then we take those funds and we allocate them accordingly,” Carr said during Question Period.

Carr talked about organizations the government does give money to, though she didn’t name any second-stage shelters that are specifically funded by government.

The minister also talked about Sask. Housing, which administers affordable housing in the province. She said in Regina alone, there are currently more than 300 available units and people fleeing domestic violence are moved to the top of the list and given the first available unit.

However, Denouden said there a lot of issues with Sask. Housing’s vacancies. Many aren’t in suitable areas and are too close to the person the family is trying to get away from, they’re not the right size for a family, and many are decades old and rundown.

Denouden doesn’t believe this area is a priority for the provincial government, but Carr said the government is committed to helping people who are fleeing interpersonal violence.

On Wednesday, the provincial budget will be released showing where the government will be putting its resources and attention in the next year. Carr wouldn’t say what might be in the budget, but Denouden said the government indicated to her in a letter that there will be no new money in the budget for this issue.