The housing situation for Estevan Diversified Services employees improved significantly this past week with the arrival of a newly built duplex that was lifted onto its foundation and was 小蓝视频 prepared for occupancy soon, in the 1400 block of Fifth Street.
Carol Cundall, spokeswoman for EDS, said the duplex will be home for two EDS employee/clients who will have individual units including separate living environments and a basement that will house their laundry facilities as well as storage capacity. A fire wall will separate the two units.
The duplex replaces a single residence that had been located on the same site, but had to be demolished since it no longer met safety and other requirements.
Using a good portion of the funds they have received from the United Way, EDS was able to accommodate the purchase and placement of the home that was built by SRI Homes Inc., in Estevan and delivered to the site, for about $200,000.
鈥淲e now have three group homes and one group living residence in Estevan, plus this one now. EDS also owns one eight-unit apartment building that is used for our employees,鈥� said Cundall.
鈥淲e still have a waiting list. Social housing and low-income housing in Estevan is still very difficult to come by. We are budgeted for $457 per month, that鈥檚 the allocation so that makes it a pretty tight situation to be in, in our community. It鈥檚 difficult because we want to provide comfortable accommodations,鈥� she added.
The SRI constructed home is 小蓝视频 paid for out of EDS resources. The United Way funds were targeted toward this particular goal for some time.
鈥淭he house that was there before, had one person in it. Now we have a new home and it鈥檚 for two people,鈥� she said.
The intention is to build a deck later on to allow for some additional outdoor space for the two residents.
Cundall said there are 58 employee/participants in the EDS program and there is a waiting list of about 15, with five of them 小蓝视频 more immediate.
鈥淲e have people needing and wanting to get into the program, but because of the housing situation, we can鈥檛 bring them in. There are about 10 of them. Then we have five who are in the program now and in need of some kind of decent housing. Our board has approved a motion to seek another group home project but we certainly can鈥檛 afford to build a new one and it鈥檚 even difficult to find a lot in the city where it could be built. We do want to ease the wait list.鈥�
Cundall said the new quarters that were lifted onto the foundation by Skylift Services, would be seen as a positive addition to the neighbourhood since the new structure replaces an older home that could no longer pass basic requirements.
鈥淚t will give a couple of our employees more independence too, and it鈥檚 close to their work,鈥� she said.聽
