Banff affordable housing project chips away at projected shortfall of up to 700 units

There are now 131 more affordable housing units in Banff to chip away at a shortfall estimated in the hundreds, but it will be about a year before it's known how much the project will actually help the problem.

"The projected shortfall is between 400 and 700 units, roughly," Banff's housing sustainability manager Sharon Oakley said Wednesday.

"To be able to provide a safe place for people to call home is critical to the success of our community in all aspects of community, in social, in mental, in business, in everything."

But how much of a dent will the Ti'nu affordable apartment complex make in a community with a zero per cent vacancy rate and sky-high rents?

"We won't know that for sure probably for another year to see what it does in terms of, does it just decrease the overcrowding issue that's in our community, does it actually alleviate and increase our vacancy rate by creating more units? We're not sure yet," Oakley said.

Parks Canada provided the land at a discount of about 85 per cent.

Greg Danchuk of Parks Canada says his workforce can't be tourism ambassadors if they can't afford to live in the community.

"A national park is a better place when the people who work in the national park can also live in the national park," he said.

"It is everyone who lives here who in some way is a guide to visitors from across Canada and around the world, opening doors to places of discovery, of learning, reflection and recreation."

The Banff mayor says the project has a fitting name.

"We named this place Ti'nu, which is part of a phrase in the Stoney Nakoda language that means 'come in.' It is a friendly and welcoming phrase, exactly what we want this place to be," Karen Sorensen said.

The province, with the support of CMHC, spent $11.9 million on the project, and the town matched that amount.

A study reported 61 per cent of Banff households were paying 30 per cent or more of their income on housing in 2013, while more than one-quarter were paying 40 per cent or more, according to the province.

The complex will be managed by the Banff Housing Corporation, which is owned by the town.

With files from Andrew Brown.