Residents have yet to move into Yellowknife’s recently renovated Aspen Apartments due to an electrical issue in the building, housing minister Lucy Kuptana says.
“Individual tenants would have their own power meters, so they had to rework that out, and they’re having issues with that,” Kuptana told the legislature on Thursday while answering questions from Great Slave MLA Kate Reid.
Residents should be able to move into their new homes in the next couple of weeks, Kuptana said.
Reid asked if priority lists have been established for those moving into the building.
“In Yellowknife, we have over 300 families on the wait list and we’ll have to do some reassignments – but of course, Aspen Apartments will be full,” Kuptana said of the 36-unit social housing building.
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The Yellowknife Housing Authority will determine which tenants move into the new complex, Kuptana previously said.
Cabin Radio toured the building when work to renovate and modernize the housing block was deemed complete in late November.
Previously, the building was federally owned and vacant. Millions of dollars in federal funding was used on the conversion work.
Kuptana previously said the project will ease pressure on Yellowknife’s housing market by moving tenants from privately leased apartments to Aspen, opening up those private units to others. (Currently, some social housing tenants are housed in units within private complexes owned by the likes of rental giant Northview.)
Last month, the territorial government announced it is seeking suggestions for a new name for the apartment building. So far, no name change has taken place.
