YMCA gets $25M for inner city affordable housing project

The Edmonton YMCA received $25 million from the province Wednesday to help build a new affordable housing complex in the city's downtown east area.

Welcome Village, which will be built at 95th Street and 104th Avenue, will have 150 units for low- to moderate-income individuals and families, as well as people with special needs.

The complex will have 50 bachelor apartments, 40 one-bedroom, 45 two-bedroom and 15 three-bedroom units;15 of those apartments will be barrier-free for wheelchair users.Construction is expected to be completed by 2011.

The complex will offer residents support services like child care and a family resource centre, said YMCA president Franco Savoia.

"If I simply put you in an apartment and I don't provide some support services around what's needed, what ends up happening is within a short time you'll be homeless again,"he said.

Funding for the project is also coming from the City of Edmonton, local businesses and other community groups.

Welcome Village is part of the city's new Boyle Renaissance project, which the city hopes will revitalize the rundown and underused part of downtown Edmonton east of 97th Street.