Keremeos residents who have been eagerly awaiting affordable housing may have a longer wait ahead of them.
BC Housing still hasn’t begun work on correcting the deficiencies at the Cactus Court and Quail Crossing affordable housing projects.
The projects had originally been advertised to open in June 2020.
Since then, BC Housing has entered into litigation against the original contractor following inspections that revealed multiple deficiencies.
In April 2021, BC Housing issued a statement to the Keremeos Review stating that the projects were to be readied for people to move in in the summer.
READ MORE: BC Housing begins fixing issues at two Keremeos housing projects
On May 20, over a month later, they reissued the same statement, with an additional sentence stating that work would begin soon. There was also a wording change to another sentence.
“We are working towards opening both projects by this summer or early fall,” reads the most recent statement.
BC Housing did confirm in a follow-up response that work will begin in the coming weeks, but did not give a more specific timeline and did not confirm whether any progress had been made on the properties since April.
Some of the deficiencies identified included the clearly visible step from the doorways to the concrete walkways outside the planned fully-accessible Cactus Court buildings.
READ MORE: Affordable housing projects in Keremeos continue to sit empty
The projects are set to add 16 units at Cactus Court and eight at the Quail Crossing expansion of the existing Mountain View Manor.
Meanwhile, the Ambrosia affordable housing project, being built by another contractor, continues as planned.
The Lower Similkameen Community Services Society, which will operate the properties once BC Housing completes construction, has recently begun fundraising for the costs of moving their offices and expanding their program space.
READ MORE: Lower Similkameen Community Services Society fundraising to relocate to Ambrosia
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