Bonnylodge Phase 3 Receives Additional Funding

Funding increased from $11.256 Mil to $13 Mil

The Lakeland Lodge & Housing Foundation received some exciting news from the Provincial Government, funding for Phase 3 of the Bonnylodge has been increase from $11.256 million to $13 million. Vice-Chair of Lakeland Lodge & Housing, and Town of Bonnyville Councillor, Ray Prevost says the announcement was unexpected.

Councillor Prevost reports that just days before receiving the news of extra funding, the Foundation was asked where costs could be cut or reduced. So, when he received a conference call from the Provincial Government’s Seniors’ & Housing department he definitely wasn’t expecting good news. “I braced myself for the worst news and all we got out of it was that they increased the budget,” Prevost explains his shock from the news.

A letter, dated January 9th, Minister of Seniors & Housing, the Honourable, Lori Sigurdson confirms the funding, “I am pleased to inform you that the original investment for the Bonnylodge Phase 3 in Bonnyville of $11.256 for 46 units has been increased by $1.744 million for a total of $13 million. As part of this increased provincial investment, this facility will be fully funded and owned by the Alberta Social Housing Corporation.”

“That wasn’t the only good news from that call. The other good news is that the 20 percent that we were supposed to pay back, over the course of four years, has been eliminated. So we don’t have to pay that back,” Prevost says it was a technicality that worked in their favour. “We never had a contract saying we had to pay it back,” without a formal arrangement, the increase in funding came without any stipulations for repayment.