Once complete, the new $5.7-million Indigenous Elders Lodge in Calgary’s Highland Park community – the first urban Indigenous seniors living facility in Calgary – will provide 12 units of affordable seniors housing. The lodge will feature cultural spaces for residents to practise land-based teachings, hold ceremonies and promote healing. This project creates about 34 jobs and welcomes residents in February 2023.
Calgary Skyview MP George Chahal, on behalf of federal Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion and Minister Responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Ahmed Hussen, and Alberta Seniors and Housing Minister Josephine Pon joined the Aboriginal Friendship Centre of Calgary to celebrate the groundbreaking.
In Alberta, the funding is provided through the Indigenous Housing Capital Program (IHCP), which supports Indigenous governments and communities to build affordable off-reserve, off-settlement and on-settlement housing. The program ensures a flexible, autonomous approach and encourages public and private developers to partner with Indigenous governments and organizations. IHCP applications are accepted continuously and are available at alberta.ca/ihcp. The next quarterly deadline is March 31.
Supporting community-driven projects like the Indigenous Elders Lodge is a crucial action under Alberta’s Stronger Foundations affordable housing strategy and responds to the recommendations of the 2020 Affordable Housing Review Panel.
Federal funding for the IHCP is provided through the 10-year bilateral housing agreement between Canada and the Government of Alberta, announced in spring 2019.
Quick facts
- The Indigenous Elders Lodge is owned and operated by the Aboriginal Friendship Centre of Calgary.
- The total project budget is estimated at $5.7 million, of which the governments of Alberta and Canada jointly provided a $2.3-million capital grant.
- Alberta’s Capital Plan 2021 will invest $30 million in IHCP over three years. Since 2019, Alberta’s government has committed about $26.6 million to seven projects:
- Lethbridge – Blackfoot Family Lodge Society ($3.4 million, 14 units)
- Edmonton – Tribal Chiefs Ventures Inc. ($6 million, 32 units)
- Calgary – Aboriginal Friendship Centre of Calgary ($2.3 million, 12 units)
- Lac Ste. Anne – Lac Ste. Anne Métis Community Association and Communitas Group ($2.6 million, 12 units)
- Victor Lake – Victor Lake Cooperative and The Evergreens Foundation ($2.3 million, 12 units)
- Métis Capital Housing Corporation ($7 million, 23 units)
- Elizabeth Metis Settlement, near Cold Lake ($3 million, ten four-bedroom homes)
- Alberta Seniors and Housing’s Capital Plan 2021 allocates $238 million over three years to provide 1,800 new and regenerated affordable housing units, more than 1,700 jobs, and maintain the 26,700-unit provincially owned portfolio. More than 1,500 new units have been completed since 2019, of which about half were for seniors.
- Announced in 2019, the 10-year bilateral agreement between the governments of Canada and Alberta, under the National Housing Strategy (NHS), will invest $678 million to protect, renew and expand social and community housing, and support Alberta’s priorities related to housing repair, construction and affordability.
- Canada’s NHS is a 10-year $72-plus billion plan to give more Canadians a place to call home.
- NHS is built on strong partnerships between the federal, provincial and territorial governments and continuous engagement with others, including municipalities, Indigenous governments and organizations, and the social and private housing sectors. This includes consultations with Canadians from all walks of life and people with lived experience of housing needs.
- All NHS investments delivered by the federal, provincial and territorial governments will respect the critical principles of NHS that support partnerships, people and communities.
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