I hope the affordable housing committee meeting tomorrow accomplishes something.We've covered the topic of affordable housing extensively in The Canadian and I've done an extraordinary amount of research to ensure that I've got the facts and I'm up-to-date.
Last month's meeting was, well, less than productive. 45 minutes talking about some brochure that apparently has been in the works for years. Result: The drafting continues.
Then, a committee member had the courage to go ahead and ask some tough questions and make some strong statements about the Wild Rose affordable housing project - all of which were justified from my perspective.
Two and a half years later with $7.9 million in the bank and not even so much as a sign on the lot of the former Wild Rose arena, where the affordable housing complex was supposed to be done last October.
The member took some heat from officials who threw all kinds of information at the poor man, some of which was provably not really the whole truth. He ended up apologizing to the group for speaking out in compassion for the people in Camrose who either can't or struggle to keep a roof over the heads of their families. He had no reason to apologize, because someone had to lay out the reality at some point. I told him so in a later conversation.
Ultimately, nothing in the line of real action was accomplished. All kinds of government funding is available and its allocation is all up in the air. I was disappointed at the meeting's lack of purpose, but I'm hoping something gets done and some real topics get discussed at tomorrow's meeting at city hall at 11 a.m. in the council chambers.
-Brandon BlatzI will post an update after the meeting, so check back to see if the road to nowhere leads to somewhere.
