With 820 residential units destroyed in the Jasper wildfire and many contractors needing to stay in town, temporary housing has become a pressing need.
Jasper council inquired about what this temporary housing would look like for the community during its Tuesday (Aug. 28) meeting.
“People are feeling a little bit in the dark,” said Coun. Rico Damota. “I’m bringing this up because I’ve been speaking to people that are still living outside of the community and are very anxious to get back here and work and be contributing while their homes are being built, and they just want to have some idea of what we’re looking at.”
Michael Fark, director of recovery for the Municipality of Jasper, made a distinction between short-term and interim housing, with short-term being up to 90 days and interim housing being for 90 days or more.
“For the short term, we’re actioning to move the fire camp that is currently based in Hinton to the Whistlers campsite parking lot,” Fark said.
“And so that will have accommodation for up to a certain number of essential workers, and that is the main short-term or temporary housing that we’re looking at.”
Officials are also working with the hotel industry to identify its available capacity for short-term housing.
Interim housing, meanwhile, will be a form of modular housing that will be brought into the community either flat-packed or trailer-style.
“They can actually be quite comfortable. They will be fit for purpose,” Fark said. “We have identified a number of sites, either within or immediately adjacent to the municipal boundary, so it is close proximity.”
The provincial government put out a housing survey to get a better sense of how much housing was needed and what form it should take.
Based on the outcome of the housing survey, officials have now put out a housing application form that can be filled out on the Municipality of Jasper’s website.
Any Jasper resident or Parks Canada employee who needs housing is asked to fill out the form.
Essential workers will be prioritized for temporary housing. The municipality is working with Parks Canada and the Alberta government to define who qualifies for the essential workers list.
“They are the ones that will have the first priority and the first option at the accommodation that we are able to secure as it becomes available,” Fark said.
As of Aug. 27, 390 people have completed the housing application, and 100 of those have been identified as essential workers.
Fark said they hoped to have some initial short-term housing (up to 90 days) in place early next week so essential workers can be brought into the community.
Officials are also targeting to have family-friendly interim housing in place before the end of the 90-day window.
“In some cases, essential workers may be asked not to try to move in with their families but to come back as the essential workers only as we need time to develop other facilities,” Fark said.
