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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
City councillor Cory Vanthuyne told committee Monday that the city needs to remember its mandate isn't developing, owning and providing affordable housing, but rather making it easier for developers to do their job.

Vanthuyne was responding to a presentation given to the Municipal Services Committee about a potential 24-unit environmentally-friendly and "affordable" downtown housing project that, if approved, could have the city as the development owner.

"It's not the mandate of the city," he said. "It's (the GNWT's) mandate. That's what they do. They have the money. They have the capacity and they have the programming to deliver this very kind of initiative."

Vanthuyne suggested the reason the city is considering the project is because of regulation errors it made in the past. He pointed to regulations that made it difficult for construction to begin in the city, leaving development at a standstill a few years ago.

"So to some extent, we may have been responsible for causing a lot of what came out of that time: high market prices, high construction costs, nobody selling their units, no movement going on in the housing market in Yellowknife.

"So we kind of forced ourselves into this situation of having to face issues around affordable housing," he said.

Vanthuyne noted that the city has since fixed many of those regulation issues, as is its job to do.

"We have lifted a number of those restrictions that were causing the freeze in the market and a number of construction projects over the last couple of years have kicked up all throughout the community.

"That's what we are mandated to do."

The city was presented with a 100-page report in June, dealing with the prospect of constructing an environmentally-friendly housing project. The report, completed by Stantec Consulting, was adopted by council on July 25. The cost of the project is estimated at around $6 million.

Administration has yet to come forward with a recommendation for council to debate and vote on. Jeffrey Humble, director of planning and lands, said that will come in about a month when the city hears back about funding applications that have already been submitted.

When adopting the report, council requested a presentation from Stantec outlining the different options for developing the eco-housing project.

Stantec consultant Innes Hood gave the presentation Monday over the phone from Vancouver.

He said the firm's recommendation is for the city to maintain ownership of the project, which would require it to establish a housing corporation or development corporation to manage it.

Coun. David Wind said he couldn't understand why the city would want to duplicate the work of the Yellowknife Housing Authority.

"It just doesn't seem to make sense," he said. "It flies in the face of reason to duplicate that function when it's already being performed, and I think, performed very well by the housing authority.

"I think the recommendations that are coming out of this process are very suspect and we need to be very careful in examining those and scrutinizing those before we embark on this project."

Although Coun. Bob Brooks agreed with some of the concerns brought forward by Vanthuyne and Wind, he said he supports council moving forward with the project.

"I don't want to be in the rental housing business, however I do believe it's important that the city become a partner in this eco-housing project because it allows us to be able to access funds that regular city developers don't have access to, which helps us get projects like this into the market."

Coun. Shelagh Montgomery said this is a project she is excited about coming to fruition.

"I think it's a very important project," she said. "I do really want to see this continue to move forward."

The report suggests the 24 units would be priced at $250,000, with monthly mortgage payments of about $1,500 and utility payments of just more than $100. The low utility rates would be due to the energy-efficient technologies that the city plans to incorporate.

A property considered for the development is located on the corner of 52 Avenue and 50 Street, beside Kingpin Bowling Centre. The lot belongs to Diamond Cabs and is currently on the market.

The city is also considering the one block strip of 50 Street from Franklin Avenue to 51 Street, more popularly known as "Range Street". The city is currently attempting to purchase several properties on this street.

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