'A long time coming': Construction breaks ground on Calgary Dream Centre's $18-million affordable housing project for women

Dirt turned Monday at the site of a future affordable housing development that nearly 90 vulnerable women and children will soon call home, just south of Calgary’s downtown.

The development, dubbed Erlton House, is being led by the Calgary Dream Centre, a non-profit that helps individuals overcome addiction and homelessness.

The below-market condo development at 24 28th Avenue S.W. is $17.6-million initiative that received capital funding from all three orders of government, as well as donations from Trico Homes and the Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB).

The city contributed $3 million toward the project and sold the land at book value, while the provincial and federal governments each provided approximately $4.8 million.

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Trico Homes and CREB’s REALTOR Community Foundation legacy grant also supported the project, to the tune of $1 million.

At a news conference Monday, Calgary Dream Centre CEO Craig Hill said the project has been years in the making, but made possible after the non-profit acquired the land approximately three years ago.

“This has been in the Dream Centre’s heart since the day we started, so from that perspective, it’s been a long time coming,” he said. “From the moment that we first found out this land was available, we saw the land and recognized we need to jump on this.”

The site formerly housed Erlton Elementary School, which Hill said was demolished earlier this year. The Calgary Board of Education disposed of the property in 2019 , calling it surplus to the public school board’s requirements, and the city acquired the land in 2020.

Construction will begin right away and Hill said the charity aims to welcome the property’s first tenants in the fall of 2027. Clientele will be selected based on criteria the Dream Centre is still determining, according to the CEO, though he acknowledged the wait list for affordable housing in Calgary is currently extensive.

The development will ultimately house 56 condo units including a mix of studio and one- to three-bedroom apartments. Units will rented out at more than 60 per cent below market rates.

Erlton House will be three storeys tall with a belowground parkade that includes approximately 40 stalls. The site is also within walking distance of the Erlton/Stampede Park station on the Red Line of the CTrain.

Twenty per cent of the units — approximately 12 — will be fully accessible to wheelchair users and tenants with mobility challenges.