After receiving a request earlier this month for nearly $500,000 in one-time funding for new a Habitat for Humanity housing project in St. Albert's Midtown neighbourhood, city council will be debating a motion on Tuesday that, if approved, will see the city give $100,000 towards the project.
Habitat for Humanity Edmonton president Dr. Ann-Marie Reddy told council on April 2 that the project in question is for four housing units with a total build cost of $1.72 million. The organization is looking for federal, provincial, and municipal funding for the project, with the federal portion, equaling $500,000, being conditional on the four homes being sold to Black families in accordance with the government's Black Families Funding Initiative.
The motion up for debate was put forward by Coun. Mike Killick, who told the Gazette he hopes the rest of council sees the same opportunity he sees when it comes to leveraging funding from higher levels of government.
“I think this is a good investment,” he said. “And it does show that we are putting money behind diversity, equity, and inclusion, which has been a priority for council for several years.”
Both Coun. Shelley Biermanski and Coun. Sheena Hughes said in interviews that they're hesitant to support the project given the four housing units will be solely for Black families.
“I realize it's the federal funding but we're also supporting that and we're also limiting who's eligible to receive the housing,” Hughes said. “That's a real challenge for me, to say that only a certain ethnicity is eligible.”
For his part, Killick said he disagreed with that argument, as “just because we can't do it for everybody doesn't mean we shouldn't do it for somebody.”
Killick's motion also specifies that if the project is to fall through, St. Albert would receive its funding back from the organization.
Habitat for Humanity has yet to respond to the Gazette's inquiry if the project would still be viable if St. Albert was to only provide $100,000, and not the full $484,000 that was requested, although, Reddy said in an interview earlier this month that “any amount will be a great thing.”
The organization has 35 homes in St. Albert, which have been owned and lived in by more than 75 families.
