The Upper Nicola Band has shared details on a major housing plan in the works.
The plan, funded by the province, currently calls for nine two-bedroom duplexes, four four-bedroom homes and two six-bedroom homes.
Coun. Brian Holmes says the band has started planning and he says some of the units, to be located just off Douglas Lake Road, and says the first phase could be done within two years.
“It’s going to address a need for housing on-reserve, to bring families and individuals back home. And also to help alleviate some of the families that might be experiencing overcrowding in some of the current housing situations,” Holmes says.
“I was talking (yesterday), the house I grew up in was a three-bedroom house with five boys in the house. To me that was a good example of the issue of growing up in a crowded house.
“It’s also going to look at giving us an opportunity to get community working back in our community because they have a place to stay. People go to school and get their education and want to come back home but there’s no where to live.”
In November the province committed $4.8 million to build 24 units on the band.