Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Liard (July 26/02) - Fort Liard has its own housing co-ordinator as of this week.

Beaver Enterprises, a band-owned company, has secured a contract with the NWT Housing Corporation to build three new houses and repair up to 45 others. They also plan to construct a demonstration log home using logs from Jean Marie River. The housing coordinator position, funded by the NWT Housing Corporation, will be full time, and has been designated for a two-year term, said Larry Campbell, district manager for the housing corporation.

Wayne Lennie has been hired to fill the role.

"We decided to put a technical co-ordinator position in (Liard) to do the scope of work and project management," Campbell explained.

"We're going to have a limited dollar to work with, and if it's not tracked under our guidelines then negotiated contracts tend to go over budget."

Acho Dene Koe Chief Floyd Bertrand described the new position a positive step.

"There's definitely a housing shortage here in Liard ... but it's not severe," Bertrand said. "The three houses coming up this year will be good enough to get some of the younger families out ... from living with their parents. They (the housing corporation) are accommodating. They're doing what they can."

Campbell said the housing corporation did surveys of housing needs in 1996 and again in 2000. The former survey indicated that many local people were returning to the community for oil and gas work and moving in with family members. Therefore close to 60 per cent of the houses were overcrowded, Campbell noted.

However, the latter survey indicated that the cramped conditions have eased, he said.

"We've been building three, four or five units a year there, and every year we still need three, four or five units," said Campbell.

The Acho Dene are still hoping to purchase log-housing packages from Jean Marie River, which would be transported and assembled in Fort Liard, Bertrand noted.

Whether the housing corporation will endorse the final product will depend on the success of the prototype and the community's response to the log homes, according to Campbell.