Final confirmation has been given to the construction of a six-storey housing project in Railtown that will provide 55 units of housing.
Nelson-Creston MLA Brittny Anderson made the announcement at the planned site next door to the restored CP Rail station on Aug. 13.
The Nelson and District Chamber of Commerce donated the land and initiated the project about a year ago. Construction is expected to begin in September.
The building has been planned as workforce housing that will provide non-subsidized market rental units to employers who will in turn rent them to their employees. Nelson employers have been reporting for years that they are unable to hire staff from out of town because there is nowhere for them to live.
The project will be funded by the provincial agency BC Builds.
The chamber has recently formed the Nelson Railtown Housing Society, which will oversee the construction and also manage the building long term, said chamber executive director Tom Thomson at the event. He said the chamber will oversee the society's work at arm's length.
The members of the board of the new Railtown Housing Society are Michael Borch, Chuck Bennett, Sam Cowan and Ashley Elliott, with Thomson as interim executive director. The board has not yet met, and will elect a chair at its first meeting.
In addition to BC Builds, the housing society will also work with the developer Workforce Housing Solutions Inc. and the Nelson-based Stanley Office of Architecture.
At the event, Anderson praised the Chamber of Commerce.
"The Chamber has done so much heavy lifting to work with the community, and to create the nonprofit to develop workforce housing," she said.
"We know we need middle-income housing for people like nurses and teachers and small business owners and people that work at Whitewater and people that are our baristas."
Anderson said the City of Nelson has also been "an absolutely vital partner."
