‘Up to two years’ before tenants can move into Aspen Apartments

Public housing tenants may not be able to live in Yellowknife’s Aspen Apartments for up to another two years, the NWT’s housing minister says.

In late June 2023, $7.9 million in federal funds was committed to converting the 36-unit apartment complex into subsidized housing. That sum included funding for renovations and transferring ownership from the federal government to Housing NWT.

Last week, housing minister Lucy Kuptana said welcoming tenants would still take up to another 24 months.

Housing NWT told Cabin Radio the Aspen Apartments building was constructed in the 1970s and “requires modernization to extend its useful service life.”

The housing agency said modernization work is expected to include updates to the building’s heating, ventilation, electrical, fire alarm and sprinkler systems, as well as the replacement of roofing and siding.

Housing NWT said it has hired consultants to assess the building’s condition and develop a work plan. That assessment is expected to be complete this spring, with a public procurement request posted this summer.

Once opened, Housing NWT said the Yellowknife Housing Authority will operate the building with tenants determined through an application process.

Tenants are expected to begin occupying apartments in the summer of 2025, which the agency said meets federal funding guidelines that stipulate project completion within 18 to 24 months.

Long-awaited public housing

The project has been years in the making.

Yellowknife Mayor Rebecca Alty told the CBC following the June 2023 funding announcement that the city had spent four years advocating for the federal building to be converted into non-market housing.

City council allocated more than $1.3 million in federal funding to the project in February 2023, intending for the building to become a supportive public housing facility run by a non-profit.

The apartment complex once housed federal staff. In 2020, Aspen became a Covid-19 isolation centre for people experiencing homelessness while space outside the building was used as a temporary day shelter.

When the territory again tried to use the parking lot to provide day shelter services the following summer, that plan was halted days after opening – and ultimately abandoned – as the city-issued permit to use the space was appealed.

The building has since been vacant.

Waitlist of 330 people

In the legislature last Friday, Frame Lake MLA Julian Morse questioned why the territory caps the number of public housing units in each community.

He gave the example that while funding for a 50-unit housing complex in Yellowknife was announced in October, that won’t actually result in more public housing units in the city.

Housing NWT said when Aspen Apartments is open, the building will not increase the number of public housing units in the city. Instead, those units will replace 36 public housing units currently being leased from a third-party developer.

Kuptana responded that Housing NWT does not intend to cap the number of housing units, but most funding provided by the federal government is based on specific housing projects.

“There’s no need to cap projects or cap units or cap communities. It’s based on needs. It’s based on waiting lists,” she said.

“We do what we can with the funds that are provided.”

According to the minister, there are currently 330 people on the waiting list for public housing in Yellowknife.