By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Council says vacancies at Asooahum Crossing are the province’s to deal with

Feb 20, 2018 | 5:05 PM

If there’s going to be a solution to a developing problem at Asooahum Crossing, it’s going to have to come from the province, says Red Deer city council.

Council was facing a request Tuesday to provide $50,000 in one-time funding for rental subsidies at Asooahum.

With the current system, Aboriginal applicants to the Red Deer Housing Authority (RDHA) can’t be differentiated from non-Aboriginal applicants and therefore have to wait to receive aid.

The RDHA and Red Deer Native Friendship Society (RDNFS) — which establishes the criteria for potential Asooahum tenants — made the joint request to The City so they could provide subsidy immediately and fill the 12 suites which still sit vacant.

City Manager Craig Curtis and City administration recommended council not approve the request on Tuesday — council agreed, voting 8-1 against it. 

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“We have a beatuful building and five months later, nearly three-quarters of that gorgeous housing project sits empty. They have the people in place,” said Councillor Vesna Higham. “But there is this bureaucratic vacuum, this red tape that needs to be addressed and I’m glad this came to council. It is with a lot of reluctance and reticence, and with as strong a voice as I can put out there to the province to take action. This is a critical piece of advocacy and I hope the province is istening right now.”

Higham added that she must vote on principle and be responsible to the people who elected her.

“The reality is we have ths conversation far too often,” she went on, referring to council votes on matters of provincial jurisdiction. “We cannot be all things too all people, as much as we would love to be.”

Councillor Tanya Handley was equally reluctant in her vote against approving the grant.

“I really cannot imagine starting this, having families move into their homes and then having families be told [in a year], ‘Sorry, theres no more funding there,’” she said. “We must put our support behind our provincial colleagues to close this gap. My heart does go out to those families who are waiting, but we have an opportunity here to see change going forward.”

The lone vote for providing the $50,000 came from Councillor Ken Johnston who said council had in one hand due process, and people in the other.

“God forbid we get a cancer diagnosis, but often times we’re taking treatments that won’t necessarily end in the preservation of life, but it will give us hope and it will buy time,” he said. “Housing and hope are intertwined — and sometimes in our goal of sustainability, we lose sight of an immediate need. At the end of the day, we have a housing project equipped to deal with 12 lives, hopes and dreams. Despite the risk, I’m confident the right communications can occur, the right agreements can be struck, so we don’t have ourselves faced with another ask. The money is there.”

The City does have leftover money set aside for projects going forward from the now kaput Housing Solutions Fund. Council slashed it during recent budget deliberations, but decided to leave the unused dollars for future applicable requests.

Administration noted that in talks between Mayor Tara Veer and Red Deer – North MLA Kim Schreiner, the latter indicated she’d be open to receivng an application from the RDHA and RDNFS to obtain provincial funding for this endeavour.

rdnewsNOW has reached out to the Red Deer Native Friendship Society for comment.