Funding for Jasper housing rebuild cant be spent amid impasse: Alberta minister [Video]

Alberta’s social services minister says $112 million earmarked for 250 new permanent homes in Jasper, Alta., is off the table if Parks Canada and the local government continue to pursue a different vision for the town’s post-wildfire rebuild.

The Alberta government’s promised funding is now hanging in the balance as the mountain town argues multi-unit buildings are needed to help the town’s long-standing housing shortage. The province is requiring the funding be used to build detached, single-family homes.

“If we don’t have a project that meets those requirements, then this money can’t be spent,” Jason Nixon, Alberta’s minister of seniors, community and social services, told reporters Tuesday.

With more than 600 Jasper families without homes, competing visions over how the fire-ravaged town should move forward has led to an impasse between the province and the municipality, which is working alongside Parks Canada in the rebuild.

Given the limited space to …