Council approves borrowing of up to $15.5 million for Coordinated Care Campus purchase, renos

Councillor Dylan Bressey says borrowing the funds, instead of drawing from existing funds, will enable the city to pay the purchase off over time, rather than from funds designated for other services within the city’s budget.

He adds the simplest way to think of it is like the city taking out a mortgage on the site.

“Just like any mortgage, you don’t pay for the building up front, you pay for it over time,” Bressey said.

“How this building is going to be paid for is through rent that the people living in it pay to be in their units, and also through annual grants we get from federal and provincial governments that have to go towards homelessness funding, (which) is currently being spent on programs that we won’t need anymore, such as winter overflow shelters.”

Protective and Social Services Director Chris Manuel believes these funding sources, on top of the re-location of other city departments like Enforcement Services and Community and Social Development to the campus, will also help make it so property taxes will not see an increase because of this purchase.

“Those departments are going to be relocated into the campus… as such their building budgets are going to accompany them. So, those existing expenditures are going to be applied against the cost of housing them in the new facility,” Manuel said.

“And we are looking to potentially sell the former sites (downtown).”

Bressey adds that he is hopeful the provincial government will come through and support the project, after he says council and administration were able to meet with various ministers during recent visits to Grande Prairie to discuss the project.

He says the message they have delivered to the province is that they are eager to work alongside them to solve the issue of homelessness in Grande Prairie.

“I know that the province has made very strong commitments to supportive housing in other communities, that it hasn’t made here,” Bressey said.

“Since we are the community in Alberta with the highest per capita homelessness, I’m looking forward to seeing how the province will partner with us to address needs in our community.”

With funding in place, Manuel says the renovations at the site can begin rather quickly. He says those renovations will include adding fencing around the property, as well as facility improvements to areas like the façade, roofing and upgrading accessibility.

He adds the renovations will be done in a phased approach, which he hopes will make it so the first tenants will be able to move in within the next couple of months.

“We’re shooting for October for our first phase of around 30 residents,” said Manuel. “And then following that point there will be a pause to see how the facility is operating, how the renovations are going along in those other spaces, and then a determination will be made when to pull the trigger on the next phase.”

The borrowing of $15.5 million equates to $12.5 million for the purchase of the former Stonebridge Hotel, with the remaining $3 million set aside for renovations.

It was noted that additional provincial and federal grants that get approved would lower the amount the city will need to borrow.

by Shaun Penner

Council approves borrowing of up to $15.5 million for Coordinated Care Campus purchase, renos

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