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This lot, beside the Kingpin Bowling Centre, is one of the properties being considered by the city to place a 24-unit apartment building aimed at making home ownership affordable for lower income buyers.

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The city is considering acting as a loan guarantor for a 24-unit environmentally-friendly and "affordable" housing project downtown.

City council adopted a report by Yellowknife-based consulting firm Stantec Consulting July 25, which cost the city $145,000, that explored options for developing energy-efficient and affordable housing downtown, an idea which arose from the city's Smart Growth Committee. The project, with an estimated cost of $6 million, is called Eco-housing.

City councillors David Wind and Mark Heyck faced off on whether the plan means the city will be creating "social housing."

"Social housing is not the mandate of the city," said Wind, although he acknowledged council is right to be concerned about the cost of housing in the city. "Housing prices have been rising."

Heyck argued the proposed project was not social housing, and instead presented it as "non-market housing," which would allow people with low incomes to purchase low cost condos rather than living in rental units subsidized by the government. Wind countered by saying if public money is involved, it's social housing no matter what city officials call it.

"You can dress a pig up any way you want," said Wind.

The report, more than 100 pages long, details several different ways to go about creating the housing, with options such as the city taking ownership and managing rental units, financing and constructing the units and then selling them to a private developer, or having a private developer take over the whole project for either rental or sale.

A workshop for the study - involving an architect, representatives from the city, territorial government, NWT Housing Corporation, NWT Construction Association, Ecology North, and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation - concluded the city's role should be in selecting the construction team, working with higher levels of government to secure funding, acting as loan guarantor during the construction and managing the resale of properties.

Managing resale would mean placing caveats on the resale of the units, so that someone could not buy them at a low price and then resell them at a higher price, which would go against the aim of providing affordable homes.

The three-day workshop included a tour of the Copper Sky development near Tin Can Hill, brainstorming ideas and priorities for the project, site tours of possible locations, a concept design workshop - which included a "heart-storming" exercise on what a home means to the participants - and discussions of the project model and costs.

Recommendations from the workshop include making a 24-unit, wood-frame, three-storey building in the downtown core, that would incorporate a range of energy-efficient technologies, especially in its walls and windows. It's hoped, if built, the units would sell for $250,000 with monthly mortgage payments of $1,700.

It's also recommended the city consider a property-tax exemption for the first few years of the building's existence to make it even more affordable.

Properties considered for its location were the gated off lot on the corner of 52 Avenue and 50 Street, beside the Kingpin Bowling Centre, which was favoured during the workshop, and a lot off Matonobee Street near the McMahon Frame Lake Trail.

The 50 Street lot belongs to Diamond Cabs owner Ted Yaceyko. He said no one has approached him about purchasing the lot but it is for sale.

While the Eco-housing report was accepted by city council, whether or not the city goes ahead with the project will be determined at a later date, and no date was discussed.

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