Proposed affordable housing development for the Quarters gives neighbours hopes of vibrancy
CBC
Long seen as an untapped area of Edmonton's downtown, the Quarters district may be the home of Edmonton's latest affordable housing site.
Today, city council's executive committee will see a recommendation to sell eight city-owned lots at a below-market price to e4c, a non-profit charitable organization that helps Edmonton's vulnerable inner city population.
The sale agreement lists the land price as $1,000, with a $15,000 security deposit.
The market value of the parcel — between 102a Avenue and 103rd Avenue, east of 96th Street — is estimated at $3 million.
E4c plans to construct a building that would provide 19 single-occupancy transitional housing units, about 50 shelter beds, office and services spaces, and a Women's Emergency Accommodation Centre.
The plans also call for the building to have a potential future commercial space, similar to The Hallway Café in City Hall.
The proposal is a good use of land that has long sat vacant, said Michael Lee, chair of the Chinese Benevolent Association.
"I'm in favour of having something built on that site that will serve some people who are really neglected by society overall," Lee said.
The association runs some of the Chinese seniors' facilities nearby. It was consulted on the project alongside the Chinatown Transformation Collaborative.
Both groups are in favour of the project, saying that e4c has proven to be thoughtful neighbours and good facility managers.
"We were just elated … because it will be the first new-build in the south part of Chinatown," said Sandy Pon, chair and co-founder of the transformation collaborative.
Officials with e4c declined to do an interview ahead of the committee meeting.
But in an email to CBC, e4c spokesperson Shannon Donogh said the land acquisition is critical to advancing the project and assessing its viability.
"We have been longstanding neighbours and tenants in Boyle Street and the Quarters for over 50 years, and look forward to the committee's review on Wednesday," Donogh said.
As classes across New Brunswick pause for the holidays, it’s not yet clear which schools are making a dent in chronic absenteeism — a stubborn post-pandemic trend that mostly afflicts the high school cohort, especially in the Anglophone West school district.
CBC Quebec has launched its Make the Season Kind campaign. It's our annual campaign that focuses on food insecurity, while also celebrating kindness, generosity and community spirit around the province.
Premier Wab Kinew says Manitoba will hold a public inquiry as soon as 2026 into the former Progressive Conservative government’s post-election efforts to approve an environmental licence for sand-mining company Sio Silica.
Premier Scott Moe has led the Saskatchewan Party through two straight elections, winning majority governments each time.
Eight weeks after adding a GM BrightDrop van to the fleet of his plumbing and heating business, Marty Salliss has no complaints, only praise.
Nearly half of Alberta’s Grade 6 students failed the provincewide math test in 2024, three years after the province started rolling out its new elementary school curriculum.
Toronto could get new cars on the road whose drivers will never get frustrated by gridlock — because the cars would be driving themselves.
Amidst a cost-of-living crisis, some London-area organizations say they have noticed a decline in donations this holiday season.
Prominent northern leaders have been touting the Arctic economic and security corridor as a "nation-building" project that will bring economic benefits to the two territories it straddles, but others are split on how much good will come out of it.
When the federal government tabled its 2025 budget last month, it included a proposal that tax fraud experts say is long overdue — if also a belated acknowledgement that the Canada Revenue Agency has been repeatedly duped into paying out untold millions in bogus tax refunds to scammers.
Talking with an AI chatbot can successfully convince people to change their votes and could affect the outcome of future elections, according to a new study.
While some are writing wishlists for Santa Claus, a group of Newfoundland and Labrador youth are writing their wishlist for the provincial government.
A horse owner near Stewiacke, N.S., says the current shortage of hay in the province is putting pressure on her financially.