Rising five storeys from a field at the end of a dirt road, the Millennium condo project was supposed to be a fresh beginning for a first nations band buoyed by newfound wealth.
The project is meant to provide 108 affordable housing units desperately needed in Enoch, Alta., where one-quarter of 1,500 people living on-reserve are on a waiting list for an adequate home despite a casino project funnelling millions into band coffers.
But six years after construction started, it’s unfinished and empty, a $17-million symbol of a housing crisis facing first nations across Canada.
Complicating reserves’ attempts to conduct their own land development projects are several issues: red tape, lack of title on Crown land, financing and a lack of relevant experience. At a time when Canada is heralding a new spirit of co-operation between the government and first nations, the housing file festers. More than 20,000 housing units are needed nationwide, and it isn’t among the priorities of the so-called new deal announced this week between Ottawa and the Assembly of First Nations.
It’s a daunting issue. Ottawa wants first nations to take the lead, and many are eager to do so, but cases are complicated by a lack of local expertise on housing projects. Even for cash-rich bands looking to solve their problems on their own (Enoch has taken in an estimated $115-million in revenue since 2006 from an on-reserve casino), the status quo presents too many hurdles. Enoch had the money for the project, but not the expertise to pull it off as it and the government had hoped.
Full Article
Source: Globe & Mail
The project is meant to provide 108 affordable housing units desperately needed in Enoch, Alta., where one-quarter of 1,500 people living on-reserve are on a waiting list for an adequate home despite a casino project funnelling millions into band coffers.
But six years after construction started, it’s unfinished and empty, a $17-million symbol of a housing crisis facing first nations across Canada.
Complicating reserves’ attempts to conduct their own land development projects are several issues: red tape, lack of title on Crown land, financing and a lack of relevant experience. At a time when Canada is heralding a new spirit of co-operation between the government and first nations, the housing file festers. More than 20,000 housing units are needed nationwide, and it isn’t among the priorities of the so-called new deal announced this week between Ottawa and the Assembly of First Nations.
It’s a daunting issue. Ottawa wants first nations to take the lead, and many are eager to do so, but cases are complicated by a lack of local expertise on housing projects. Even for cash-rich bands looking to solve their problems on their own (Enoch has taken in an estimated $115-million in revenue since 2006 from an on-reserve casino), the status quo presents too many hurdles. Enoch had the money for the project, but not the expertise to pull it off as it and the government had hoped.
Full Article
Source: Globe & Mail
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