City chips in $674K for transitional housing

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This article was published 23/05/2024 (842 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After a tender for the construction of a new transitional housing facility on 16th Street North came in over budget, Brandon City Council voted unanimously at its Tuesday meeting to provide almost $700,000 in financial assistance to the 24-unit project.

Ross Robinson of the John Howard Society of Brandon, which is building the facility with Westman Youth for Christ, told the Sun on Wednesday that the city’s contribution covers most of the extra $1 million they need.

The start of construction could be soon, depending on the results of a meeting today with the project’s contractor and engineer.

The society first announced its intention to build the facility in December 2022 in the wake of the closure of YWCA Brandon’s Meredith Place.

In 2023, the City of Brandon supported the project by selling the property it owned at 353 16th St. North for $1. Later in the year, it received $5 million through the federal government’s Rapid Housing Initiative and $4 million from the provincial government before running a roast of Mayor Jeff Fawcett as a fundraiser.

On Tuesday, council read a report from city staff saying they’d found $198,500 in unallocated grant funds left over from a $4.12-million grant provided by the Manitoba Housing Renewal Corporation in 2021 as well as $275,513 in interest that accrued on the grant money.

Staff suggested those funds, as well as a further $200,000 from the city’s affordable housing reserve, be provided to the transitional housing project for a total of $674,013.

“We’re aware the John Howard transitional unit building tender came in high,” said Coun. Kris Desjarlais (Ward 2). “They were about a million short. I’m still not sure exactly how short they are, but they will still be short even with the funding they might be receiving from us today.”

Desjarlais said that since most of the money comes from grants, that means the bulk of the funds provided are not coming from municipal taxpayer dollars.

He said the $200,000 being spent from the affordable housing reserve was allocated in this year’s budget for projects like this one and that the city’s overall contribution to the project will only be two to three per cent of the total cost.

In previous affordable housing projects, Desjarlais said the city has contributed 10 to 20 per cent of the total.

“I think this is the very least we can do to keep the momentum going with this project and hopefully they’re successful in finding the additional funds to get it over the finish line,” he said.

The mayor said he was supportive of the motion because city staff dug in to find funding from suitable sources.

“We don’t really tax municipally for housing,” Fawcett said. “We’re really counting on the province and the feds for this and I do know that they have been in touch with the province on this, so I believe they’ll get it done.”

In an interview on Wednesday, Robinson said that before Tuesday’s council meeting, the society had around $9.5 million to cover around $10.5 million in construction costs.

With a gap of a few hundred thousand dollars still to go, he said they’re working with contractor Excel-7 to see if costs can be lowered, with a meeting scheduled with them and Samson Engineering set for today.

They’re also looking for other sources of capital, including holding another fundraising event. After last year’s roast, Robinson said the Rotary Club of Brandon stepped up and committed to a $100,000 contribution that is being submitted in phases.

This year’s federal budget included a notice that affordable housing projects would be exempt from paying the GST and Robinson said they’re waiting to see if they’ll qualify.

On top of that, he said there’s a provincial program being announced in July that the project will apply for funding through.

“And we also know that there’s other favourable things happening at the provincial government that are in our favour,” Robinson said.

With these elements in mind, Robinson said the society’s board believes the gap can be bridged and is hoping to start construction before the final funds are secured.

Even though the sobering centre tabbed for Brandon will eventually be part of the same facility, Robinson said they don’t need to wait for all the capital funding to be lined up for the other project before they start building the housing.

However, construction elements of the housing are being designed with the addition of the sobering centre in mind.

In order to build the sobering centre, which the John Howard Society will build but not operate, Robinson said another million dollars in capital funding is needed.

Even after the construction costs are met, Robinson said funds will still be needed to properly furnish the housing units and to install a kitchen.

However, if the construction costs are completely covered, it means the facility will be able to open debt-free, which will make it easier to cover operating costs through the rent charged to residents.

Since the project was first announced, other organizations like Brandon Housing First and the Brandon Friendship Centre have announced their intentions to build their own transitional housing facilities.

Robinson said he’s glad other service providers are entering the sector as he knows the 24 units the society is building won’t be enough to fill the community’s needs.

“Our facility won’t address the needs of families and children and youth,” Robinson said. “They need to be housed as well and supported. There’s the sad thing about this type of project, is that they’ll never be enough.”

He said he’s an open book to share the lessons he’s learned getting the society’s facility off the ground with other service providers.

Ultimately, Robinson said he thought the facility would provide an opportunity for people to develop the skills they need to move into regular rental accommodation, especially to unhoused people in downtown Brandon, 24 people at a time.

“It’s the only way that I believe we’re going to address this,” he said. “We’ve seen a significant increase of unhoused people since Meredith Place closed, there’s a connection. When we lost our transitional housing, we saw more people on the street.”

Anyone interested in donating toward the project can reach Robinson by email at rrobinson@brandonjohnhoward.ca.

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