Accessible housing project falls apart after disagreement between Housing N.W.T. and disability council

The chair of the N.W.T. Disabilities Council says a failed housing project with the territorial government is a blow to the equality and dignity of people with disabilities. 

Since 2020, the disabilities council has been working with Housing N.W.T. on a housing development in downtown Yellowknife that would provide accessible and affordable living for people with disabilities. The council secured funding from the federal government, a $1-million investment from De Beers and a sub-lease on a plot of land from the territorial government. 

Council chair Brian Carter said the project began to unravel in February, when Housing N.W.T. and the territorial government informed the council they wanted to use the land for another project. He said they've now lost trust in Housing N.W.T. as a result.

"It's a devastating blow to the people living with disabilities, including myself, in the Northwest Territories, who remain chronically underserved across housing, health care and social services," he said.

Housing N.W.T. proposed five other sites — four of which the council said were out of the question because they didn't have proper access to transit or parking. The council accepted the fifth site, across from the Yellowknife Catholic School Board at the corner of 49 Street and 52 Avenue. 

They entered into a similar lease agreement, with the requirement that the disabilities council complete the building within five years — but the council's funding couldn't be applied to the new property. 

"We lost $1,000,000 in corporate funding from De Beers, [who has] permanently withdrawn, hundreds of thousands in CMHC [the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation] investments were forfeited, all pending funding applications were frozen or withdrawn, future [public-private] partnerships are now jeopardized, and years of design, architecture and feasibility planning were wasted," Carter said. 

He said they hope to eventually revisit the project, but without their funding, it wouldn't be possible to build on a five-year timeline. Carter called the project's failure a betrayal. 

"This project was never just about construction. It was about dignity, equality and justice," Carter said. "Accessible housing is not a luxury, it's a human right."

Housing N.W.T. declined an interview but said in an email that the N.W.T. Disabilities Council wasn't meeting milestones in the original lease agreement, though it did not specify which milestones it was referring to. 

It said due to that, and to the council's timeline being "longer term," it met with the council to express interest in "moving ahead on a more imminent housing project" and finding a new site for the council's project.

"We regret that the N.W.T. Disabilities Council is opting not to proceed with their project," spokesperson Jeanne Gard said in the email. 

"Since 2020, Housing N.W.T. has worked closely with the N.W.T. Disabilities Council to ensure the Council had the necessary land available through a structured lease agreement to support their efforts in working with their funding partners."

The statement added that Housing N.W.T. didn't want the plot of land to stay empty "for a protracted period of time during the well-documented housing crisis in Yellowknife and the rest of the N.W.T."

Housing N.W.T. wrote that it's demonstrating its support of people with disabilities by investments in duplexes designed for seniors and by making 25 units in a Yellowknife building currently under construction "barrier-free."

"While a mutual agreement was not reached, we remain open to future collaboration with the N.W.T. Disabilities Council and we will continue to advance inclusive housing projects across the territory."

It added that aside from land, Housing N.W.T. had also reimbursed the council for any out-of-pocket costs tied to the original location.

In its own response to that, the disabilities council called Housing N.W.T.'s response "an inaccurate narrative." Council CEO Denise McKee described Housing N.W.T.'s statement as an attempt to "justify their failure to honour [the] commitment to the project and the spirit of the sub-lease."