The NWT Disabilities Council says it is cancelling an accessible housing project after a breakdown in negotiations with Housing NWT.
The project, under development since 2020, would have created units to address the NWT’s “serious and well-documented lack of accessible, affordable housing for persons with disabilities.”
NWTDC said it had begun designing a building for a specific lot near downtown Yellowknife after receiving support from De Beers Canada and early commitments from Housing NWT, the territorial housing agency.
In a Monday news release, NWTDC said it had spent years “diligently completing designs, securing corporate and federal investment, and negotiating with [Housing NWT] to secure the necessary land through a sublease that had been repeatedly assured as stable.”
But NWTDC says Housing NWT informed the group in February that the land transfer would not proceed. Instead NWTDC alleged, Housing NWT “without warning or formal engagement” said it wanted the lot for another development and proposed that NWTDC pursue “undefined project” on a completely different site that required starting from scratch.
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The disabilities council said attempts to negotiate a solution failed, leaving “no viable path forward,” a loss of corporate investment, forfeiture of federal funding and, NWTDC said, the jeopardizing of future public and corporate relationships.
“The cancellation of this project represents not only the loss of a building,
but the loss of a chance for people with disabilities to live with dignity in their own communities,” Monday’s news release stated.
In an emailed statement, Housing NWT said NWTDC had failed to meet unspecified milestones related to the initial lease.
“As milestones in the original lease agreement were not met, and the timing for the NWT Disabilities Council’s project was longer-term, Housing NWT met with the NWTDC and expressed our interest in moving ahead on a more imminent housing project, while working to identify an alternate acceptable lot for the NWT Disabilities Council’s future build,” the housing agency stated.
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“In addition to the offer of a land contribution towards the project, Housing NWT also reimbursed the NWT Disabilities Council for all out-of-pocket costs associated with the former lot,” a Housing NWT spokesperson wrote.
A spokesperson for Housing NWT said it had proposed lease terms for a new lot that it considered “reasonable,” acting in part to ensure that “land is not idle for a protracted period of time during the well-documented housing crisis in Yellowknife.”
“While a mutual agreement was not reached, we remain open to future collaboration with the NWT Disabilities Council and we will continue to advance inclusive housing projects across the territory,” the spokesperson concluded.
