There was a celebration when Katie Canning and her two daughters moved from her parents' home to their shiny new Habitat for Humanity house in Akinsdale.
The girls, previously sharing a bed, now each had a room of their own. And Canning, a single mom, suddenly had the space to raise her children.
She also made many new friends, she says.
On Wednesday, she was sharing hotdogs and burgers on the lawn of the 30 duplexes she and her neighbours now call their home.
Yes, it's been a real life changer moving here, they all agree. But have the misconceptions about the Habitat for Humanity residents at 70 Arlington Dr. changed?
Sometimes, they say.
"I do feel welcome. We had a big block party right after we moved in and we invited all of the neighbourhood," says Canning.
"There are a lot of people supportive of the Habitat homes here, so they all came … but every once in a while we get the flare-ups of the outsiders."
The outsiders – other residents of the Akinsdale neighbourhood – complain about dog doo in the park behind Habitat's buildings, she says. Then they bring their own pets which defecate on the lawn.
Some neighbours also don't like the toys outside the homes and call it trash, she says. But there are 73 children living here.
One time, someone came to drop off old furniture at Habitat's dumpster. Caught in the act, they told another single mother – Lindsay Hogg – that they thought she and her neighbours may want to pick through the items.
But people here aren't poor, says Hogg, another single mother who lives here with her 16-year-old son.
Based on Habitat's website, families qualify to live in the homes if they have children under 18 living at home and their current housing is substandard, does not meet their needs, or they are otherwise not able to purchase a home.
Families must earn between $32,000 and $56,000 per year. They also pay a mortgage and must commit 500 hours on the Habitat site. And they're required to do upkeep on their home and lawn. "We still make decent money," says Hogg.
"So I told them 'you can come see my house.' I have nice furniture. I just never had enough money to get a down payment for a home."
Long, lost battle
There was no celebration when Habitat first announced it was building in Akinsdale.
Formerly owned by the St. Albert Protestant School Board, the land at 70 Arlington Dr. had sat empty for years.
When the board decided it no longer needed the site, it repeatedly attempted to sell the land for various reasons until striking a deal to sell the property to Habitat for Humanity Edmonton in 2008.
A controversial deal, the housing project has since undergone numerous changes.
Originally planning to build 63 townhouse units on the site, the organization first reduced the number to 58 based on public feedback, then to a maximum of 34, eventually settling on 30 duplex units at the request of city administration.
But residents remained unhappy.
Some worried about how the development and its residents would fit into the neighbourhood. Others decried the loss of valuable park space and its effect on property values.
One often-quoted letter to the Gazette stated that Habitat would attract people who earn less money than the community's average, people who would make the reader feel less safe.
In 2010, 14 residents filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block the sale of the land. City council approved the project anyway and construction of the 30-unit affordable housing complex named Aurora Place began in 2011.
The last residents moved in September 2013.
Today, opinions are still divided on the subject.
Dave Evans was part of the group that fought the city's decision to build on the land. When city council decided to ignore their concerns, they all became bitter, he says.
He doesn't mind the people living there now, he adds. But in his opinion, Akinsdale residents lost space for their children to play on, and he suspects the property values of homes backing onto Aurora Place have gone down.
"Why would anyone want to back on a duplex if they can back on a park?" he says.
Another opponent of the project, Donna Prato, has now changed her mind.
She was worried at first: about too many people moving into the neighbourhood when Habitat still planned to build 63 units, and the wall of row houses that would have blocked her garden from sunlight.
But the multi-level duplexes don't bother her and it's nice to hear the children play, she says. She stresses that she was never against Habitat or its mission.
"I was one of the people that was complaining at first but it was the sheer number they were going to put in there," she says. "It was never about poor people moving in. But that's how the media portrayed us."
Larry Papke says he also doesn't mind the people. But he strongly dislikes what he calls a lack of care for landscaping on the site.
Standing on his neatly pruned front lawn, Papke directly faces the backyard of the Habitat homes.
The drainage system is a disaster and there's large puddles showing up when it rains, he says. Then he points at the dusty, brown earth in the backyards of the homes.
"I've grown to accept it and say, hey, it's people, it is kids and they have to grow up. I have two daughters that live in St. Albert and they have two daughters," he says.
"But to me the downside is (the backyard) and that is not right. They went through great length to do what they've done and then they leave it at that."
Creating diversity
Alfred Nikolai still remembers the fight the community put up over Aurora Place.
The president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity Edmonton says it came as little surprise that people didn't want houses where there was a park for so many years.
But having five out of eight acres of green space left is still plenty and yet affordable housing remains in short supply, he says.
"More and more people in the service industry can't afford to live in St. Albert. But yet for it to be a real community and not just a bunch of houses I think you need different sectors of society living in that community," he says.
"I may be wrong but my vision of a community is where there is diversity."
Now that Aurora Place is reality, both Habitat and the city have received few negative comments about the project.
Recent counts have shown a decrease in traffic in the area despite initial concerns over higher numbers, says Mayor Nolan Crouse. The main concern is with landscaping, he says. But Nikolai promises they will finish landscaping in August.
Asked if they'd do it all the same again, both agree.
"I think overall, we have 30 families so that's a positive for the community because it vitalizes the community," says Crouse. "In this particular case I think we made the right decision."
Nicolai adds that Habitat will build in St. Albert again.
The mortgages now collected from families living here will pay for new homes in the future. Where and when that will be, he couldn't say.
But they will build here forever, he says.
"And we will be really proud and pleased to do so," he says.
