Housing for 40,000 slated for Fort McMurray
Alexandra Zabjek,
edmontonjournal.com
Published: Monday, June 23
EDMONTON - The Alberta government announced this afternoon it is laying the framework to develop two new communities in Fort McMurray that could house 40,000 people in a boomtown that has been hindered by a tight housing market for years.
The communities will be located in the northwest and southeast corners of the city and will spread out over approximately 4,000 acres. The government plans to develop the southern parcel of land - called Saline Creek Plateau - as a public-private partnership. The development of the other community, called Parsons Creek, will be driven by a community development board.
At least 20 per cent of the units in Parsons Creek will designated as affordable housing in the first phase of development, which will cover 300 acres. The Wood Buffalo Housing and Development Corporation will be allocated those units. Revenue from the development would also be used to reinvest in affordable housing.
The proposed P3 project could be the biggest such project in the world, said Treasury Board President Lloyd Snelgrove, who made the announcement in Fort McMurray.
The government could not take conventional approaches to developing housing in the northeastern city, otherwise "we'll never get ahead of the bottleneck we face," he said.
The first housing in the new development is expected to be available in 2010.
Alexandra Zabjek,
edmontonjournal.com
Published: Monday, June 23
EDMONTON - The Alberta government announced this afternoon it is laying the framework to develop two new communities in Fort McMurray that could house 40,000 people in a boomtown that has been hindered by a tight housing market for years.
The communities will be located in the northwest and southeast corners of the city and will spread out over approximately 4,000 acres. The government plans to develop the southern parcel of land - called Saline Creek Plateau - as a public-private partnership. The development of the other community, called Parsons Creek, will be driven by a community development board.
At least 20 per cent of the units in Parsons Creek will designated as affordable housing in the first phase of development, which will cover 300 acres. The Wood Buffalo Housing and Development Corporation will be allocated those units. Revenue from the development would also be used to reinvest in affordable housing.
The proposed P3 project could be the biggest such project in the world, said Treasury Board President Lloyd Snelgrove, who made the announcement in Fort McMurray.
The government could not take conventional approaches to developing housing in the northeastern city, otherwise "we'll never get ahead of the bottleneck we face," he said.
The population of Fort McMurray currently sits at 65,000 and could swell to 100,000 by 2012 as new energy projects are approved.
Today's announcement comes as a result of last year's Radke Report, which criticized the ad hoc approach to policy and spending in Fort McMurray. Last February, the government pledged more than $50 million towards rent supplements, a homeless shelter and 300 affordable housing units in the city.
The first housing in the new development is expected to be available in 2010.
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