First Nations housing project overcomes opposition

A ribbon cutting was held Aug. 28 marking completion of a 24-unit First Nations affordable housing complex in northwest Regina. “Days like this make us feel proud instead of negative,” Edmund Bellegarde, chair of Silver Sage, a non-profit dedicated to housing First Nations people in affordable rental units, told Metro Regina. The facility cost $5.5 million to build. Bellegarde said the City of Regina deserves credit for not folding under the pressure from existing residents when the lands were originally zoned for educational and institutional uses and had to be rezoned by the city for housing. The project is funded with $2.3 million from the Saskatchewan Housing Corporation and $3 million from Silver Sage. The development consists of a pair of two-bedroom units and 22 three-bedroom townhouses.