Government focused on wrong people with housing plan, says group

The P.E.I. government's most recent plan to create affordable housing is missing the mark, says a local advocacy group.

On Tuesday the government announced it would spend $2.25 million on a new program for developers looking to build affordable units, providing forgivable loans of $45,000 per unit.

Jason Alward, a member of the group P.E.I. Fight for Affordable Housing, said the program is focused on the wrong people.

"I know people being renovicted, I know people sleeping in cars at this point. If we don't focus in on public and social housing we're not going to fix this crisis," said Alward.

"We have to start putting people first, we really do. It seems to me that the government seems to be focused on developers creating these units and, [it's] understandable, developers are in the market to make money off of these units."

The group is concerned the program will help developers build, but without enough commitment that units will remain affordable housing. The program should instead be focused on public housing projects rather than private developers, Alward said.

Housing Minister Ernie Hudson said if a developer decides to change the units from affordable to the regular market, they would have to pay back a portion of the loan.

More P.E.I. news