The Southeast Regional College is continuing to move forward with the development of an affordable housing complex.
Rental accommodation and affordability continues to be a concern of the college, which has struggled to maintain enrolment to the levels they would like. At least part of that struggle is because prospective students cannot afford to live in Estevan while they complete their coursework.
As the college works to revamp its enrolment numbers, there’s little doubt there is room to train more students. Since its opening a few years ago, the Saskatchewan Energy Training Institute, which houses the college on the east side of the city, has hovered around 40 per cent full. McGrath wants to double that, but the students need somewhere to live if they wish to attend classes.
The accommodation market has changed in Estevan since the decline of oil prices last fall, leading to more vacancy, but affordability remains a hurdle.
“Even with the increase in vacancy rate, affordability is still a big question mark in Estevan,” said McGrath, noting Estevan rental rates still lead in the province and challenges other cities as the most expensive in the country.
Because of that, the college is continuing to pursue its plan to partner with a developer to build a new living complex near the school.
“We have now been given authorization from our minister to proceed with an expression of interest and requests for proposals for that project,” he said.
They are in the process of finalizing the expression of interest and the request for proposal documents. The target is to have the project tendered out early in June to see what developers are saying about the Estevan housing market and affordability in the city.
“Our project is all about affordable rents for the market, (and) part of that would be dedicated for students,” said McGrath.
Fine details have yet to be sorted out. The percentage of units made exclusively available to students of the college has yet to be determined. A clearer picture may be available after proposals come in.
McGrath has long pitched this project as a means to solve affordability problems for two entities: the college and the city at large.
“There are two elements of it,” said McGrath, and the City of Estevan has set aside a portion of land that is marked for the project, as long as it moves forward in a timely manner. The property offered by the City comes with an expiration date in 2017. Until that time, a parcel of land near the Saskatchewan Energy Training Institute is being held in abeyance.
The college has until that time to finalize project details. Depending on what happens after the tender is released, the housing development could be the next big construction project in the Energy City.
