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Ottawa grants $5 million for seniors’ housing in Yellowknife

The construction of a 102-unit pavilion for the Avens seniors community is getting a funding boost from the federal government.
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Sandra Crocker Walsh, left, AVENS care manager, and Emma-Lee Marks, AVENS unit clerk, hold up the AVENS banner during a fundraising campaign last year. On Wednesday, the federal government injected $5 million into the future Yellowknife seniors pavilion. NNSL file photo

The construction of a 102-unit pavilion for the Avens seniors community is getting a funding boost from the federal government.

On Wednesday, federal Housing Minister Ahmed Hussen announced the federal government would invest $5 million towards the construction of the new housing units at the AVENS campus in downtown Yellowknife.

“We all share the goal of ensuring that everyone in the Northwest Territories has a safe and affordable place to call home,” said Hussen.

The federal government previously invested $33.7 million in the project in October 2020.

“The additional $5 million we’re announcing today comes at a crucial time, as the project currently faces challenges and increased costs resulting from the pandemic,” said Hussen.

AVENS president and CEO Daryl Dolynny, who was also present at the announcement, expressed gratitude for the additional funding.

“On behalf of our AVENS volunteer board, our employees and our seniors community, we are blessed and thankful for the support and perseverance of the CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) team and our GNWT partner, as we proudly continue NWT’s largest affordable housing development,” he said.

Once the new pavilion is up and running, “AVENS will support seniors across the entire continuum of care so that seniors can move seamlessly through all levels of care without having to leave the Avens community,” said Dolynny.

The history of the project goes back to 2014, when work began on what was supposed to be a 90-bed long-term care centre on an underdeveloped part of the AVENS campus. This project was never fulfilled, but in July 2019 the CMHC provided seed funding that allowed Avens to begin what Dolynny called “our pavilion journey.”

The development was granted a permit in June 2021.

In highlighting the importance of the project, Dolynny referenced a needs study from November 2019 that found that seniors in the NWT have a harder time accessing affordable and adequate housing compared to the rest of Canada.

“With a renewed project purpose, we soon realized that the AVENS pavilion project would not solve all the capacity issues related to our growing seniors population,” said Dolynny “However, all we wanted was to provide some relief to our seniors looking for a place to call home.”

Dolynny said the pavilion should open sometime in the fall of 2023.

The funding announcement came on the heels of another announcement of new funding two days prior, in which Hussen pledged $9 million to the Borealis Housing Co-Operative to retrofit 50 Yellowknife homes.