Parks Canada has secured the first interim housing options for people in Jasper who lost their homes in July’s wildfire that destroyed one-third of structures in the Alberta mountain town.
Close to 360 buildings burned, equalling about 800 homes including apartment and condo units.
Since then, some displaced people have found new accommodation in town, while others have moved out of the area, due to a lack of available housing.
A survey conducted in September by the Municipality of Jasper and the province identified up to 580 housing units are needed.
On Thursday, Parks Canada said it is in the process of purchasing:
-
Four interim housing units from a subsidiary of Corrections Canada including one three-bedroom home, one one-bedroom home, one studio apartment-style home, and one canister-style home with three beds inside.
-
Two camp facilities that are expected to be installed in the coming months. Those facilities could house more than 200 people.
Parks Canada also says it is exploring feasibility on additional higher density options.
Ifan Thomas, associate superintendent of Jasper National Park, said Parks Canada has procured one of the camp facilities.
“We’ve secured a camp that will be coming into place early in the new year and we are looking to secure a second camp facility,” he said.
“We’re aiming for [move-ins] as early in the new year as possible. January for sure.
“The priority here is to get people into interim housing as quickly as possible and to make sure we have as much interim housing in place as we can get. And we’re going to be working with the municipality and the province to advance that work.”
A total of four hectares of land dotted around the town have been serviced to receive interim housing.
Province commits $112M toward interim housing
On Oct. 21, Seniors and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon announced $112 million of provincial funding for the construction of 250 modular homes within the Jasper townsite.
The province said the first residents should be able to move in as early as January.
As of Dec. 19, none of those homes have been delivered and the provincial government has not yet awarded a contract to a builder for their construction.
The province’s request for proposal for contractors to bid on the job closed on Nov. 12. The contract status is still listed as being in the evaluation stage.
The Alberta government said those new homes will be available for essential service workers, support service workers and other eligible Jasper residents who lost their homes.
The homes will be offered at or near market rent, with the Alberta government as the landlord. Once recovery in Jasper is complete, the province will sell the properties on the open market, Nixon said.
Even after the community has recovered from the fire, the properties will still be needed to help address long-standing housing shortages in the mountain community, Nixon said.
CBC News has reached out to the province for comment.