The Southeast College continues to forge ahead with its affordable housing initiative, although they haven’t been proceeding with the same sense of urgency as they were previously.
An expression of interest was issued by the college in June. Companies were encouraged to submit bids for the project, which would be located on land located near the college’s Saskatchewan Energy Training Institute (SETI) in Estevan.
The land has been provided by the City of Estevan, with the proviso that work has to begin by 2017.
Many of the units in the affordable housing project would be reserved for the college’s students. The college has repeatedly cited a lack of affordable housing as a hindrance to enrolments at SETI.
College president and CEO Dion McGrath said they received three bids for the housing project, and have had detailed discussions with all three firms. The college wanted to know if the project terms they had in mind were acceptable, or if there were any red flags with the contractors.
“In the course of that conversation with each of the bidders, we concluded that they all could do the work. However, as part of our due diligence, we continued to look at the Estevan housing market,” McGrath told the Mercury.
McGrath says the project has not been shelved and it is not on hold. They continue to do the necessary work, but they aren’t moving at the same pace as they were a year ago.
“The work is still going to take place,” said McGrath.
The firms haven’t indicated if they would still be on board once the college is ready to move forward with the affordable housing project, but McGrath expects that when the college issues a tender on the project again, the companies will show interest.
With the current state of the economy, most notably the lack of activity in the energy sector, the vacancy rate in Estevan has jumped to around 20 per cent. When the college first started to study the feasibility of an affordable housing project, there were few vacancies to be found in the city.
The cost of rental housing in Estevan has remained high, but it has softened somewhat from a couple of years ago when Estevan was home to the highest average rent in the country.
“So we have stopped the current expression of interest process,” said McGrath. “We need to be cognizant of the current environment, but we want to be ready for what we anticipate will be the rebound of activity in the energy sector, when that happens.”
The college is continuing to develop the project and refine its terms, so that when the price of oil starts to climb again, they will be in a position to move the project forward.
McGrath doesn’t want to see the college in a position like it was previously, when learners who came in for courses couldn’t find a place to live.
All of the out-of-town students who have registered for a course at the college this fall have found suitable accommodations.
“From what I can gather, the market is a little more inviting for students,” said McGrath. “I know some of the hotels have created some specials to attract students to their premises as well.”
In previous years, students were living in trailers or tents on the SETI campus’ parking lot because they couldn’t find accommodations in Estevan.
“Those are examples of why we felt we had to do something to provide more affordable accommodations in the first place,” said McGrath.
