OLDS — One way to help solve the affordable housing crunch in rural Alberta would be to open up federal land for that development, Red Deer-Mountain View MP Earl Dreeshen says.
Dreeshen made that remark March 13 during a presentation to Olds town council. He was responding to a question from Coun. Dan Daley.
Daley noted that earlier, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities was told that the federal government would help make it easier to obtain affordable housing in Canada.
“Has there been any progress on that? That is one of the concerns in my mind with rural Alberta, is that we don’t have the housing available for people to come in and work within our communities and so forth,” Daley said.
“Here in Olds we’re struggling right now with that.”
Dreeshen said one solution to that would be to open up federal land for housing. The Federal Lands Initiative, a $200 million fund overseen by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, was designed to do just that.
“Opening up federal land, we don’t really see that here in Alberta in rural areas, but I think that’s one of the things that we’ve been trying to talk about, which would take some pressure off in that regard,” Dreeshen said.
He said on the one hand, rising interest rates have been good for homeowners planning to use the value of their homes for retirement. But those rates have made it too costly for many people trying to buy homes.
Dreeshen said he’d be happy to help the town in regard to affordable housing if he’s presented with an opportunity to do so.
"Thank you for that and I’m sure our CAO (chief administrative officer Brent Williams) will note that for the future,” Mayor Judy Dahl said.
