Groups propose inner-city development
Published: Friday, February 03, 2006
A Saskatoon non-profit organization that provides affordable housing is celebrating its 10th birthday with a big wish.
"It's time that we think a little bit bigger and challenge ourselves and the larger community . . . we need to think about how can we create change in the (core) neighbourhoods," said Len Usiskin, manager of Quint Development Corp.
Quint, in partnership with organizations such as CHEP Good Food, plans to develop what they're calling a community enterprise centre that would include a grocery store, a branch of the Saskatoon Public Library and dental and medical clinics at a site on 20th Street between avenues K and L.
The organization has come a long way since 1995 when representatives from the Pleasant Hill, Riversdale, King George, Caswell and Westmount neighbourhoods were determined to reverse the decline they were seeing in Saskatoon's inner city.
Quint began by helping low-income families purchase their own homes through co-operatives. It also purchased and renovated a couple of apartment buildings for families who didn't qualify for the home ownership program.
A home for young moms and their children and another for young men in transition have also opened in the past few years.
Now the organization is preparing to embark on its most ambitious project yet: Station 20 West, the $15-million community enterprise centre with a major housing complex involving the Saskatchewan Housing Corp.
"The core neighbourhoods have suffered from disinvestment and growing disparity," Usiskin said in an interview at Quint's 10th birthday celebration at King George School on Thursday night.
"The direction and development and the solutions coming forward are coming out of the identified needs that the community itself has identified.
"They're not coming from people coming from the outside who don't live there and don't understand the dynamics of the neighbourhood."
The University of Saskatchewan dental college is planning an outreach clinic run by faculty and senior students at Station 20 West. It's a good fit for both the community and the students, says the dean of the college, Dr. Jim Stakiw.
"It allows our students to have practice in all aspects of dentistry from the young to the old," he said.
The dental faculty has thrown its support behind the outreach clinic and equipment suppliers have agreed to donate state-of-the-art equipment, Stakiw said.
Next, he needs to secure funding through the university's administration.
The Station 20 West group led by Quint is also trying to secure the money it needs.
The organization, which applied to the federal government for $1.8 million in centennial funding through Western Economic Diversification, will likely need to raise between $5 million and $6 million for construction of the enterprise centre, Usiskin said.
He is confident the federal, provincial and municipal governments along with private corporations and individual donors will support the project.
Work at the site could begin as soon as this month, and Usiskin expects the complex to be complete within the next two years.
Station 20 West Pamphlet