Province Mulling Over Funding Of Reserve Housing

Province Mulling Over Funding Of Reserve Housing

Wednesday, September 27, 2006 at 13:22

A provincial cabinet minister in charge of housing says the province is willing to consider helping to fund the building of homes on reserves.

Buckley Belanger says the provincial government can’t ignore the desperate housing situation on most reserves.

However, he says before the province makes a final call on what would be a major policy shift it would have to clear a couple of obstacles.

Chief among them is getting a guarantee the federal government wouldn’t use this as an opportunity to offload on-reserve housing funding to the province.

Belanger also says First Nations would have to want the province’s help, noting many bands have been uneasy about the province getting into territory that is traditionally a federal domain.

Belanger says it’s estimated it will take $250 million to address the housing crisis on Saskatchewan reserves.