Funding pulled for low-cost housing

If the Calgary Drop-In and Rehab Centre succeeds in putting a lowcost housing project on the site of a former hotel in northeast Calgary, it will be without any money from the provincial government.

The area MLA, Kyle Fawcett, said Friday the government is formally asking the Drop-In Centre to return a $5.2 million grant it had received to convert the former Quality Inn hotel on Edmonton Trail to supportive housing units for formerly homeless clients.

The provincial government said last June it would rescinded the grant, saying the Drop-In Centre failed to meet a condition requiring local support for the project — but it had deferred the deadline for paying it back to March 2 to give the agency a chance to reach a consensus with opponents of the plan.

“The deadline’s passed and they have not met the requirements,” said Fawcett, MLA for CalgaryKlein and the province’s environment minister.

“There’s no way they’re going to get the community on-side. There’s been a complete erosion of trust between the community and the Drop-In Centre.”

The Human Services and Seniors ministries drafted a letter to the Drop-In Centre on Friday asking for the money back, said Fawcett. The only way the DropIn Centre can keep the money is if it abandons the Quality Inn plan and proposes a project on another site, he said.

The Drop-In Centre bought the seven-storey Quality Inn building for $8 million in 2012 and announced plans to convert it into affordable housing for clients transitioning out of homeless shelters. Opposition to the project cropped up after the Drop-In Centre’s decision to change the plan and build 46 fully contained one-and twobedroom suites to a higher-density project that housed 120 people in “single room occupancy” units with no kitchens and a dining room on the ground floor.

One of the most vocal opponents to the project, the Thorncliffe Greenview Community Association, tried to break the impasse with a series of public consultations last fall.

The consultation process resulted in a concept called Greenview Commons, which includes a mix of affordable housing, commercial space, pedestrian plazas and green space in the area bordered by McKnight Boulevard to the north, Edmonton Trail to the west and the Nose Creek pathway to the east.

In an odd reversal, the Drop-In Centre ended up embracing the Greenview Commons concept and is now paying the planning consultant originally hired by the Thorncliffe Greenview Community Association to continue public consultations. The community association said last week that it will no longer participate in the process.

Drop-In Centre executive director Debbie Newman declined to respond to Fawcett’s comments, saying her organization hasn’t received the government’s letter about rescinding the grant.

The Drop-In Centre has previously said it would press on without the government’s $5.2 million contribution. Losing the grant would be a setback, said Newman, but the organization still wants to reach a compromise with the community and build on the site. The Drop-In Centre applied for a development permit last year and is still awaiting a decision from city officials.

“If ( losing the grant) is a worstcase scenario, our board needs to make a decision on how to proceed,” she said.

The Drop-In Centre isn’t wedded to the 120-unit concept for the hotel and is willing to entertain other ideas through ongoing public consultations, Newman said — but the community association pulled out.

“I find it disheartening the community hasn’t been willing to come back to the table,” said Newman.