NWT developer calls for more affordable housing incentives

The developer behind a housing project in downtown Yellowknife says governments need to better support affordable housing projects in the North.

Afzal Suri, co-founder of Borealis Development Inc, spoke to MLAs during a public briefing earlier this month.

The company is behind the renovation of the Bellanca Building, set to be renamed The Nest. It expects to open 72 one and two-bedroom apartment units by the end of February.

Suri said Borealis originally dreamed of turning the building into 100-percent affordable housing, which is normally defined as housing that costs less than 30 percent of a household’s before-tax income.

But Suri said no level of government was interested in supporting that project – including the federal, territorial and one Indigenous government. He said the company couldn’t even get a sit-down meeting with the territory’s previous housing minister.

“There was no support, unfortunately, from different levels of government. We cannot afford to make this affordable housing like we were planning to initially,” he said.

“It was more or less baffling that we’re crying about housing and someone’s willing to put in housing but we weren’t able to have a meeting with the previous MLA.”

Mayor backs call for more government support

Yellowknife Mayor Rebecca Alty recently told Radio Canada’s Le Café Show that while there were plans to set aside a quarter of the 72 apartments for local organizations such as YWCA NWT to offer affordable housing, the company did not get that contract.

Suri told MLAs at the public briefing that Borealis will determine how many of the apartment units the company can afford to offer as affordable housing once the project is complete. Borealis is currently set to be the building’s landlord.

“At the end of the day, we want to give back to the community that has supported the project and there is a significant need for affordable housing,” Suri said, adding he was open to another organization taking over the building.

Cabin Radio contacted the city and Suri for more information. A spokesperson for the municipality told Cabin Radio to contact the property owner for questions about the rental structure, while Suri did not respond to requests for comment prior to publication.

Alty told CBC’s The Trailbreaker on Thursday she believes the housing project going forward with market-rate rentals is still a positive step, as there is also demand for that type of housing in Yellowknife. But she said she would like to see increased investments from other levels of government in affordable housing.

“We always want to see that full spectrum of the housing from emergency shelters, transitional, affordable housing, market rents,” she said. “However, like Borealis said, if they don’t have those government supports at the territorial and federal level to offer affordable housing, then it does turn into the market housing.”

Suri said in general, there’s a lack of incentives for private developers to build affordable housing in the North as most federally funded programs focus on non-government organizations or social housing.

He called for more private-public partnerships, arguing that private companies have more experience staying within budget and deadlines as “there is no going back to the bank.”

Construction industry ‘broken’

Suri noted that the Bellanca Building sat vacant for roughly a decade and other developers had decided that converting the building into housing would be too challenging and costly. He said Borealis had seen success because it hired the right people in the right roles and undertook extensive planning.

“It can be done and it can be done well within budget, and it can be done within the time frame that’s allocated for it,” he said.

Glenn Tuchwisky, the construction manager for Borealis, said he wanted to challenge the idea that building in the North cannot be done within budget and on time.

He said the company did not face challenges with permitting, finding workers or getting materials to the North.

“There’s something broken within the construction industry,” he said, adding that’s an issue beyond the North.

“We know it can be fixed but are people prepared to fix it?”