Val d’Or may build social housing units, but who will benefit?

Val’d Or’s infamous low vacancy rate, currently less than 0.1%, is a main reason for the housing crisis in the “City of Gold.”

That’s why the Val d’Or Native Friendship Centre is impatiently awaiting city council’s green light for an innovative and “shovel ready” project featuring a 24-unit social environment geared specifically for the Aboriginal community.

According to the Friendship Centre’s Executive Director Edith Cloutier, over 100 Native families in Val d’Or are on a list to acquire social housing that is unavailable.

Known as the Kijaté Project (Anishnabe for full of sun), the Val d’Or Friendship Centre is partneringds with the Société d’habitation du Québec (SHQ) to create and find funding for this building project that could put roofs over the heads of needy Native families. What is missing from this project however is a requirement that 25% of the costs to be covered by the municipality of Val d’Or, which would translate to donation of municipal land for the project as well as a tax exemption.

While the previous city administration rejected the project, Pierre Corbeil’s election as Val d’Or’s new mayor in November gave hope that the project may be able to finally get off the ground.

And with this in mind, Cloutier was able to get an audience with Corbeil and other members of his council on December 6 and pitch the Kijaté Project once more.

According to Cloutier, the pitch went well as she and Corbeil discussed whether it would be possible to adapt the project into a larger initiative that the city is looking to create.

Corbeil said that currently Val d’Or is looking at various projects to address the housing shortage as it is an issue that affects everyone in the city.

“We have some projects from our own organizations, like the Office municipal d’habitation (OMH), that are working on getting three 18-unit buildings for a total of 54 units. This project is on the table right now, but they do not have any reservation to build these buildings with the SHQ,” said Corbeil.

The OMH project would be accommodations for anyone in Val d’Or who meets the requirements for social housing.

While there are three different projects in front of the city, Corbeil said that the two in the lead are the OMH project and Kijaté. However, in the eyes of the city, neither is that “shovel ready” because of the lack of infrastructure needed to develop a new piece of land. Any new building project would require the creation of new streets, sewage and access to water, all of which would have to be first developed into the city’s next budget.

Corbeil said he wants to manage these projects together for the time being; these are projects that are still being discussed by the city administration before making a decision when it comes to which project will actually come to fruition. While no decision has been made yet, reexamining them and making such decisions is on the agenda for the New Year.

With crossed fingers, Cloutier is hopeful that Kijaté may see the light of day yet recognizes the difficulty when it comes to getting the go-ahead for Native-specific projects due to an issue of perception.

“We are looking at how to overcome this kind of a racial barrier and how to encourage dialogue at a political level when it comes to supporting this project. We want to support the Native community. We know what the problems are the community faces, so we want to be proactive and find solutions,” said Cloutier.