Province's housing announcement features Prince Rupert plans, along with news for Terrace and Vernon

Temporary Housing units are set to be on the move across the province as
the BC Government released a number of housing announcements on Wednesday

The Province of British Columbia took to their BC Government News service on Wednesday to share some background on housing initiatives in the province, making note of the announcement of Tuesday night in Prince Rupert and adding a few more destinations to the housing roll out for the day.

As North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice noted as part of her Tuesday night address to City Council, Prince Rupert is in line for 44 modular housing units, the arrival date estimated by the MLA to be sometime by March of 2018.

The province also offers up this short animated vignette of their housing initiative, which highlights the plans for Terrace, Vernon and other communities with an interest in BC Government's Housing assistance program.

The BC Government announcement makes note of Prince Rupert Mayor Lee Brain's comments hailing the allocation of 3.6 million dollars for the 44 modular units to come

“This is fantastic news for the community,” ... “The city has advocated for affordable housing for Prince Rupert for quite some time. We are happy to see the Province acting to meet the urgent need for long-term affordable housing solutions for Prince Rupert.”

For Terrace, the Province is committing to 8 million dollars for up to 52 units of housing already slated for delivery to a stretch of land on Olson Avenue in the city.

Terrace Mayor Carol Leclerc highlighted some of the ways the housing will offer support to the community.

“This modular-housing program is a critical step towards supporting our most vulnerable citizens and providing them with affordable quality housing,” ...“This program provides 24/7 support staffing to address the challenges our homeless and low-income residents experience in accessing safe and secure housing. Council recognizes that the City of Terrace has a significant need for transitional housing units, and we look forward to partnering with the Province to implement this initiative in an efficient and timely manner.”

A larger explanation of the money that has been earmarked for the Terrace project can be reviewed here.

Vernon was the third community to hear good news on housing on Wednesday, with the Okanagan city set to receive 11 million dollars for two modular unite projects, to provide 98 affordable living units to that community.

Tuesday's announcement by Ms. Rice at the City Council meeting, along with some follow up notes from Mayor Brain also promised the delivery of more background information on the emergency shelter plans for Prince Rupert.

Though to this point, that update for the public hasn't been delivered through the various media streams for the MLA, or any of the communication options that the City of Prince Rupert or the Mayor make use of.

One aspect of the new housing initiative that is expected to be expanded on is the new role that will be taken on by the North Coast Transition Society which will be tasked with providing the supportive housing elements related to the housing units once the BC Government delivers them to whatever land the City of Prince Rupert will decide that they should go on.

While the role of the Transition House Society will most likely be reviewed as part of those still to come updates, the media release from the province of Wednesday offers up a thumbnail guide as to some of the areas with the local organization may be directing its attention towards.

For more items related to Housing in the Northwest see our archive page here.