Gander bought a church to fix its housing crisis — but mayor says province won't fund the project
Mayor says platitudes and pats on the back don’t help
The Town of Gander is making a push to address its housing needs, but municipal officials say they need help from the provincial government to take the next step.
Nearly two years ago, the town bought an old church in the hopes of combating homelessness with affordable housing. The 15,000-square-foot church, near the town's centre, had been sitting vacant since 2018, so the town purchased it for $499,000 in September 2022.
Council issued a call for expressions of interest, and the Gander and Area Community Advisory Board for Housing and Homelessness answered with a plan to establish a permanent emergency shelter, provide short-term affordable housing needs, and offer programming to help people get back on their feet.
The project has been endorsed by the province, but there's been no commitment to offer funding, Mayor Percy Farwell told CBC News.
"Nothing is happening because the province in that two-year period — and three ministers being excited about it — have not come forward with the required resources to support this board to get this much-needed service up and running. So we're very frustrated," Farwell said.
Farwell said the town doesn't have a mandate to provide social housing.
"But we do have a responsibility to help facilitate solutions," he said.
The town wants the provincial government — which does have a mandate to provide housing — to provide capital and core funding for the project and match the $187,000 annual funding it provides for other community centres in the province, including buildings in Marystown, Exploits and several in St. John's.
Last summer, about 40 people in Gander had been using hotels temporarily for emergency shelter. At the time, John Abbott, former social development minister, said the provincial government was looking at other housing alternatives.
In October, then housing minister Paul Pike was in Gander for the opening of six affordable living homes. At the time, he said more homes could be expected in areas like Gander and other communities that serve as urban hubs.
"If we see a need in any community or any area, we're going to assess that need," he said at the time. "And if we find that we need to build units there, we will."
Last month, Housing Minister Fred Hutton was in Gander to discuss, among other things, the new housing hub proposed for the old church.
Farwell said no definitive action came from those meetings.
"We get platitudes, we get encouragement, pats on the head, but we get nowhere with the actual real commitment," Farwell said. "We're out there trying to facilitate a solution to a problem that the province has jurisdiction over. And by the province's admission, it's a wonderful solution. And yet for some reason, it just does not happen."
Hutton says no breakdown of costs provided
Hutton told CBC News on Tuesday the government wants to look at the project closely and hired an architect to examine the building. He said it was noted during that review that "a fair bit" of work would need to be done.
Hutton also said the province will fund a project manager to work with the groups involved to determine how many people could be housed there.
"But the fire commissioner's office has made it very clear that until a certain level of work is done, the basic life and safety codes cannot be met as the building currently is," he said.
Hutton said the province doesn't have a full breakdown of costs to convert the building and run the project, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation cannot make a funding decision until that's done.
He said the NLHC has opened 30 staffed shelter beds in the past year and his department is committed to doing more in Gander as quickly as possible.
Mayor says needs are critical
The Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation released its rental housing portfolio at the end of March 2023. It details the housing market, and outlines NLHC units, rent supplements, affordable housing units and other government-partnered programs.
In it, Gander's numbers are lower per capita than many other more urban communities across the province.
The mayor says the need for more housing has been demonstrated in his community.
"It is a very critical issue here in Gander right now," he said. "We do have homelessness. They are not as visible as they perhaps are in some communities in some cases and perhaps that's why we don't get the priority from the province. Our homeless are not on the news every night."
Farwell says Gander has the longest wait-list for housing of similar-sized communities and the smallest vacancy rate.
"The priority should be … getting those units, getting a community resource centre in place in Gander that exists in many other places in many of the municipalities," he said.
The housing crisis is not unique to Gander, or Newfoundland and Labrador. During a trip to the province for a housing announcement in St. John's last week, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland stressed the importance of all levels of government working together on solutions.
"I think the key to it is what you're seeing today, which is all levels of government working together, and government and the private sector working together.… We have to do more, faster. That's what we're going to continue to do."
Federal Labour and Seniors Minister Seamus O'Regan stressed the need to take action.
"The housing issue in this country is huge. And sometimes I have confronted people saying, 'Well, jeez, you know, it's so big, it's so overwhelming.' But, you know, getting overwhelmed isn't going to get houses built. So you got to start somewhere."
In Gander, taxpayers have been shouldering the costs of the the old church building for two years. Farwell says it can't go on forever.
"It's not cheap, and it's something that we can't keep doing indefinitely," he said.
"Platitudes ... or the encouragement of the province that they really like the model doesn't pay the light bill."
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With files from CBC Newfoundland Morning
