The GNWT and the NWT Disabilities Council are in dispute over whether progress is being made to develop the Rockhill property, where a devastating fire occurred seven years ago.

Nothing has been done at the 54 Avenue site so far, Housing Minister Lucy Kuptana said in the legislative assembly on Feb. 11.  

“No movement yet,” she said. “I did ask Housing NWT for some information, and we don’t have any updated information at this time.”

Kuptana made her statement in response to Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins’ questions about the current state of the property. When Rockhill burned down in 2018, it left 33 low-income housing occupants and more than 80 people without a home. 

The minister pointed out that the territory has an agreement with a local non-governmental organization (NGO) to develop Rockhill.

“The agreement is in force until the end of March 2025, so we still have a bit of time with the local NGO,” she said.

That NGO is the NWT Disabilities Council. Its CEO, Denise McKee, contended that there is progress being made.

She mentioned there had been a pause in work, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and a territorial election, which spiked costs and interfered with development approvals, respectively, she said.

“Consultations have been completed,” said McKee. “We still have, on the board, hopes for 42-unit, fully-accessible, barrier-free, mixed units,” said McKee, noting something of that calibre doesn’t yet exist in the territory. 

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation recently donated $147,000 to the council to help with scoping of the project, she said. Currently, the council is collecting cost estimates for the actual build, she added.

“We’re actually moving forward into now being able to apply for the actual building dollars,” McKee said, noting the council is still partnering with De Beers and still has commitments from the City of Yellowknife and the NWT Housing Corporation to help back the organization’s funding applications.

“We haven’t broken ground at this point. That’s true, but this has been a delay that most building projects have had to sustain,” said McKee.

Hawkins also asked in the legislature if there’s any way the territory can cancel this initiative and find a new partner. Kuptana said there has been talk of cancellation, but the NWT Disabilities Council still has time to come up with funding for its proposal.

“They have until the end of March 2025 to provide that and then the clause in terms of cancellation provisions will be in effect,” said Kuptana.

McKee said that comment is concerning and said she was unaware that the minister communicated it. 

“We reached out to have an extension multiple times and haven’t heard back,” said McKee. “We don’t want to be moving ahead and doing all these kinds of work and they’re saying this. I would like to know what they decide to put into place since there is no accessible housing.”

McKee added that the NWT Housing Corporation approached the NWT Disabilities Council in the first place.

“I’m hoping that we’re looking at a couple of years, not even that long, and getting the funding to break ground,” she said. “We’d like to break ground today and start building, but we have to make sure that everything is in place.”

The Rockhill housing complex, which sat on GNWT-owned property, offered homes to families that suffered from addictions or violence so they could readjust their lives through YWCA programming with support from YWCA staff.