Shíshálh Nation will be one of the first Indigenous communities in B.C. to receive funding to build affordable homes under a new housing initiative by the province.
The nation is expected to receive $6.8 million to build 34 homes for singles and families on reserve as part of the Building BC: Indigenous Housing Fund.
“For too long, Indigenous people have struggled to find good, affordable homes in their communities,” said Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons. “Our government is responding to this critical need by becoming the first province in Canada to fund on-reserve housing.”
The fund will supply $550 million over 10 years to build 1,750 units of affordable housing for Indigenous people.
This first phase will see approximately $231 million spent to build 780 off-reserve and 370 on-reserve affordable homes in 26 B.C. communities, including shíshálh Nation, with homes anticipated to be built within the next two to four years.
BC Housing and shíshálh Nation are expected to finalize the project over the next few months, according to the release. A second call for proposals is anticipated for the spring of 2020.
“The housing situation facing Indigenous peoples in British Columbia is unacceptable,” said Selina Robinson, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, in a release.
The fund is part of the province’s 30-point housing plan, which will see $7 billion spent on affordable housing over a 10-year period. According to the budget plan, more than 70 per cent of Indigenous people in B.C. live off reserve and are “disproportionately represented among the homeless population and are under-housed in B.C.”
A 2017 report on housing by Statistics Canada found that nearly 20 per cent of Indigenous people in Canada live in crowded housing and in dwellings in need of major repairs, versus six per cent of the non-Indigenous population.
“Through these new homes, we are working together with First Nations, the Aboriginal Housing Management Association and Indigenous housing providers to take an important step toward addressing this critical need in every corner of the province,” said Robinson.
Projects are being finalized and worked on jointly with BC Housing and Indigenous non-profit housing groups, as well as First Nations communities.
