'Jamming it down our throat': Southeast residents fight back against social housing initiative
CTV
Residents in Albert Park/Radisson Heights met with city officials on Monday night to discuss a plan to build more affordable housing on the site of an old Calgary school, an idea that some aren't happy about.
Residents in Albert Park/Radisson Heights met with city officials on Monday night to discuss a plan to build more affordable housing on the site of an old Calgary school, an idea that some aren't happy about.
The David D. Oughton School closed in 2006 and the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) has partnered with Attainable Homes, an organization that helps provide affordable housing to Calgarians, to build 230 townhomes on the site.
Both say the homes would help provide "moderate income" homes to residents, something that is sorely needed during the current housing crisis.
However, many residents who attended the meeting said they don't like the idea of three-storey townhomes so close to their bungalows and suggest the city is putting too much social housing in the area.
Others said the property should be used for something that the community needs more, such as a new recreation centre.
"They've decided there's a housing crisis and I don't disagree," said Albert Park/Radisson Heights resident Cory Ulicny, who attended Monday's meeting.
"But they want to make sure that they build as many houses and it doesn't matter what it does to the communities, especially ours, where I think we have a more blue-collar neighborhood and we don't organize as well.
