Released on June 5, 2018
Today, Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, on behalf of Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and Minister Responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), and Member of the Legislative Assembly for Saskatchewan Rivers Nadine Wilson, on behalf of Social Services Minister and Minister Responsible for Saskatchewan Housing Corporation (SHC) Paul Merriman, announced that both levels of government will contribute $65,000 toward the construction of a new Habitat for Humanity home in Prince Albert.This investment will support Habitat for Humanity (Habitat) in making homes more affordable and will help improve the quality of life for a Prince Albert family.
“Safe housing lifts people up, helps families succeed and is the cornerstone of productive communities,” said Goodale.“ Our government is proud to support Habitat for Humanity projects like this one as part of our government’s record investments in affordable housing. Our ambitious plan will reduce chronic homelessness by half and remove more than 500,000 households from housing need over the next decade.”
“Supporting Habitat for Humanity projects is one way our government helps provide safe, quality, and affordable homes for Saskatchewan people in greatest housing need,” Wilson said. “We are honoured to work with the Government of Canada and Habitat for Humanity to support yet another family with a stable home to call their own. We thank everyone involved for helping to keep Saskatchewan strong and on track.”
“Prince Albert Habitat for Humanity is happy to celebrate the start of another great partner build,” Habitat for Humanity Prince Albert Executive Director Jan Thomas said. “Saskatchewan Polytechnic has been putting their carpentry apprentices to work for four builds now, which has proven to be a tremendous benefit to Habitat and the skill building for these students. We are exceptionally grateful for the ongoing support of our provincial and federal government funding. Every year, we seek to help more families than previous years, and without this consistent government support, we would struggle to meet our goals. These funds make a difference to our Habitat partner families and, in this build, it also helps trades students obtain vocational training to get good jobs in our province.”
Quick facts:
- The Government of Canada, through CMHC, and the Government of Saskatchewan, through SHC, are jointly contributing $65,000 to build the home through the 2014-19 Investment in Affordable Housing (IAH) Agreement.
- This build is a partnership between Habitat and Saskatchewan Polytechnic Institute (Polytech). This is the fourth house to be constructed under this partnership.
- The house will be moved from Polytech to its location at 767 - 17th Street West. Construction of the house will be done by Polytech carpentry students, thanks to the partnership between Habitat and Polytech. The partnership educates carpentry students while supporting affordable homeownership options in Prince Albert. Habitat will supply the materials and students will provide labour to construct the home.
- The home will be a raised bungalow, approximately 1,175 square feet (109 square metres) in size, with an unfinished basement.
- The province’s overall commitment to Habitat for Humanity totals $10.85 million since March 2009. Of this amount, the federal and provincial governments have invested $3 million, thanks to the federal/provincial IAH Agreement and the subsequent Social Infrastructure Fund to build additional affordable homes in various communities around Saskatchewan.
- This investment supports Saskatchewan’s Housing Strategy by ensuring Saskatchewan people in greatest need have access to affordable, safe, secure, and stable housing.
- Habitat’s innovative delivery model provides opportunities for families to stabilize their housing and to achieve their homeownership goals. Each partner family selected by Habitat contributes 500 partnering hours in building their home or other Habitat homes. To learn more about Habitat for Humanity and their work across Saskatchewan, visit www.habitat.ca.
- As Canada's authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers unbiased housing research and advice to all levels of Canadian government, consumers and the housing industry. For more information, please call 1-800-668-2642 or follow us on Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Facebook.
- In October 2012, the Government of Saskatchewan released the Saskatchewan Plan for Growth: Vision 2020 and Beyond, which sets out the government’s vision for a province of 1.2 million people by 2020. The plan identifies principles, goals and actions to ensure Saskatchewan is capturing the opportunities and meeting the challenges of a growing province. Since 2007, the Government of Saskatchewan has invested more than $770 million to develop or repair almost 16,000 housing units across our province. To learn more, visit www.saskatchewan.ca.
For more information, contact:
Émilie Gauduchon
Office of Minister Duclos
Ottawa
Phone: 819-654-5546
Email: Emilie.Gauduchon@hrsdc-rhdcc.gc.ca
Gabriel Teo
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Vancouver
Phone: 604-737-4137
Email: gteo@cmhc-schl.gc.ca
Leya Moore
Social Services
Regina
Phone: 306-787-3610
Email: leya.moore@gov.sk.ca