can build in the next two years. So, right now, we are desperately searching for land to relocate our city lagoon. We’re getting close, but funding is the next hurdle we have to meet and we’re probably about $30 million short.” “We’ll be lobbying both the provincial and federal governments, while also looking at alternative sources of funding, because we don’t have enough borrowing capacity to meet the shortage. We have over 670 homes ready to build, but until we get our wastewater situation addressed, we can’t reach the full market demand for new homes.” Some good news on the housing front has managed to break through, nonetheless.“In the last few years, the city has worked with the province to bring on eight new affordable housing units,” Dyck reports. “It’s part of a twelve-plex that is now open and fully occupied. Habitat for Humanity also recently completed its first duplex in partnership with the City. And we just ran a homebuyer’s assistance program, working with Manitoba Housing, to help seven first-time home buyers get a down payment for their first home. While it’s been a challenging time, we feel that the city has done some great work within these constraints to support access where we can.” BETTER TIMES AHEAD Another few pieces of good news: Penner shares that Morden is in the planning stages of building a new 40-acre soccer field and community garden in www.wbsconstruction.com helping organizations and communities grow through construction leadership 262 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 05, ISSUE 11
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