The Sk瘫wx瘫wu虂7mesh U虂xwumixw (麻豆社国产Nation) is ramping up housing for its members thanks to recent federal funding.
麻豆社国产Nation is receiving $9.45 million from the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF), part of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
The funding will help bring more than 130 new homes to the Xwmélch’sten (Capilano), Ch’ich’élx瘫wí7k瘫w (Seymour) and St’a虂7mes (Squamish) reserves within three years. Funding will also help with designing new subdivisions to support higher-density housing like duplexes and multi-family apartments; infrastructure plans like sidewalks, bike lanes and energy systems; and help create faster housing approvals.
Elected councillor for the 麻豆社国产Nation Sxwíxwtn (Wilson Williams) says the newly received funding will help remove barriers.
“It’s housing at the top of the list of what the needs are for our people,” Williams said. “Especially today, when inflation, cost of living is glaring at people and making them feel like there’s a dead end.”
HAF funding helps support the Nation’s , a roadmap for long-term economic, cultural and social development of the community for 2050.
But the funding also helps close the door to a bigger issue – bringing more members back home.
The 麻豆社国产Nation completed a survey a few years ago saying 75 per cent of people who live off reserve wanted an opportunity to move back into the community. These housing projects will help with that, Williams said.
“We have been forcibly displaced from our communities, in our reserve, in what we call our home. We didn’t create the word 'reserves,'” he said talking about the Indian Act. “It really just sheds a light on some of the challenges and why this means so much to us today, and how we have this Generational Plan to move people home.”
Building homes will also remove barriers for children in care adopted out, giving them the opportunity to move home as they age out, Williams said, adding that being together as a community helps people connect to their culture and understand where they come from, he said.
West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country MP Patrick Weiler says the funding is a good example of governments deepening partnership with the 麻豆社国产Nation on housing.
“I think it is a really important step forward,” Weiler said. “From the federal government point of view, we don’t permit housing, but we do have an important role in working together with those that do, and this is an example of that.”
as a way to support local governments to accelerate housing supply. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation administers the $4 billion HAF fund.
CMHC is a crown corporation of the federal government and operates relatively independently, but is a key source of funding for affordable housing projects and insurance products for housing as well, Weiler said.
The funding for the 麻豆社国产Nation is .
While Weiler is not directly connected to CMHC or the funding, he says having more housing built on the reserves will help people return home, which is empowering.
“At the end of the day, this is going to help collectively to take a big chunk out of the housing supply gap that we have in Canada,” Weiler said.
麻豆社国产Nation has been hard at work on supplying housing in recent years, including opening , a 55-unit building on Capilano reserve in North Vancouver, and , both in April 2024.
“We don’t want any of our people displaced, especially displaced from their own community. When you go by a strong foundation like that, it gives our people a lot of hope,” Williams said.
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the .
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