Joanne McQuarrie, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter | [email protected]
The Jasper Community Housing Corporation (JCHC) is working on plans for affordable staff housing units on Connaught Drive and step by step, it's getting closer to happening.
Mark Fercho, JCHC chairman and chief administrative officer for the Municipality of Jasper, said a number of elements need to come together to get the project shovel-ready, including having land, the design, prices and infrastructure.
"Usually that means the project is reasonably far along," he said. "That's why I'm pursuing all those things. They'll take a year."
Plans have been worked on since 2016, when the JCHC decided to take action in light of the ongoing tight vacancy rate and how the lack of staff housing shortages affects businesses' abilities to operate.
Staff housing - an 80-unit structure - is the goal, with the intent for the housing to be owned or authorized for purchase and resale by Jasper businesses, rather than private residents.
It is proposed to be built on the south side of the 700-800 block of Connaught Drive - south of the intersection of Connaught Drive and Spruce Avenue, west of Petro Canada, 30 metres north of the CN railway, and about 300 metres from Jasper’s commercial core.
The project is a partnership between the business community, the Municipality of Jasper and Parks Canada.
The Municipality of Jasper is entering into a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Seed Funding Contribution Agreement and CMHC Seed Funding Loan Agreement, for a total of $250,000.
"That $250,000 is helping us push it over the line of readiness," Fercho said.
The town will be setting up meetings with the business community to further the project.
Fercho noted the formula and payments are still to be shared with the business community partners before anything becomes final.
As well, he said, the total cost of construction will be paid back over time by the business partners that secure units and their renters of the united in monthly payments.
“It is not going to have taxpayer funding support,” he said.
Once there is approval from the business community on the detailed design work and the governance - how units are purchased or leased, and how much that costs for the business and the renter and for how long - JCHC will move forward with looking over construction-ready drawings from three construction firms.
All the steps being taken will yield much-needed housing in a community where it has been in short supply for years.
"This project is to provide safe, affordable, clean and new small units - similar to a university housing with individual micro-suites single units - for the many workers in Jasper," Fercho said. "This project was a high priority as so many jobs were unfilled due to lack of housing prior to COVID.
“We hit pause in March, but need to keep moving forward to have this project ‘shovel ready’ in case grant funding becomes available that we can take advantage of for the benefit of Jasper."
