When the government housing complex at 4 Hemlock Drive was forced to close, the next step seemed natural.
The province would honour its obligation to less fortunate Flin Flonners by promptly rebuilding the complex, tipping the scales a bit closer toward the “social justice” then-premier Greg Selinger liked to talk about.
Except that’s not what happened. Instead, the closure of 4 Hemlock – open to low-income individuals and families – touched off a chain of events that demonstrated ill regard for the plight of vulnerable citizens.
4 Hemlock is an easy-to-miss building that featured 14 suites. Due to moisture problems, the complex closed in 2012 and was deemed beyond repair.
Tenants of 4 Hemlock were relocated to other government housing units in the community while the province figured out its next move.
In 2012 and 2013, provincial officials told The Reminder that the 14 units of 4 Hemlock would be rebuilt either at the same site or an alternate location such as Aspen Grove.
At one point, plans were far enough along that officials hoped to begin construction in the fall of 2013.
Then things fell silent. Sometime between 2013 and late 2014, the province abandoned the idea of replacing the low-income units in favour of something unrelated but more politically popular: seniors’ housing.
It took another year for the province to make it official, announcing in late 2015 that it would open a new 20-unit seniors’ apartment complex at the former site of 4 Hemlock.
The location made sense given that 4 Hemlock is situated beside another seniors’ complex at 2 Hemlock Drive. Moreover, there was (and still is) a vast need for more seniors’ housing in Flin Flon.
Still, advocates for the poor couldn’t help but wonder why low-income residents on a waiting list for a place to live would not see the return of housing units lost through no fault of their own. Was this a case of class discrimination?
In the dying weeks of his premiership, Selinger was asked whether his government was choosing older people over poor people. He insisted “it’s not either/or” and that seniors who need government housing often have modest incomes themselves.
Except it was “either/or.” The province could have either rebuilt low-income housing or constructed an entirely unrelated complex for seniors. It chose the latter.
The province should have actually met the needs of both seniors and low-income families by rebuilding what was lost and erecting new seniors’ housing. Evidently this idea never occurred to those in power. Flin Flon was going to lose valuable housing one way or the other.
When Selinger and his NDP lost power in April 2016, some feared the surprise seniors’ housing promise would never materialize. While the planning process continued under the PCs, the new government now says the project is “under review” – a vague statement that suggests construction may or may not ever proceed. (See story on page 8.)
As much as seniors’ housing is needed, it is also very apparent that Flin Flon requires additional low-income housing. Our regional homelessness problem but one symptom of this reality.
The PCs are often stereotyped as uncaring toward the poor. While in opposition, however, it was their housing critic who admirably demanded the NDP promise “struggling families in Flin Flon” that the shuttered housing units would be replaced.
Now that they’re in power, the PCs have forgotten about those struggling families. Not only do they have no proposal to replace the low-income units lost under the NDP, they might now discard a plan to at least replace those units with another needed form of housing.
No wonder faith in politicians is so low.
