‘It’s a social issue’: Jasper residents in housing limbo amid provincial impasse

The province says it won't provide temporary housing in Jasper afterall. Jeremy Thompson explains why.

As the province backs off from its pledge in the fall to build 250 temporary homes for Jasper residents, many people have been left in housing limbo.

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Jasperite Jason Stockfish recalls when politicians were looking at the debris and destruction the wildfires caused in 2024 and made their pledges to help rebuild homes.

“That brought us a lot of hope at the time. This isn’t a political issue, it’s a social issue and we were counting on that,” he told CTV News Edmonton on Wednesday.

More than 600 Jasper families are waiting on interim housing, with many living in hotels.

Stockfish has been living in a basement suite in the town since September but considers himself lucky, as many other Jasperites are scattered across the country – from Vancouer all the way to the Maritimes.

What went wrong?

The construction of the 250 modular homes was originally slated to be ready to rent this month, but the province says it was only given enough land for eight. Its funding will only go towards detached, single-family homes.

“We need high-density housing. We don’t need individual homes that require sidewalks versus running into one that takes years to actually build,” Stockfish said.

Seniors, Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon says he reached an impasse with the Town of Jasper, Parks Canada and the federal government.

Jasper and Parks Canada made roughly four CFL football fields worth of land available but couldn’t find common ground with the province.

“They indicated that they wanted permanent, subdivided and individually titled lots. And again, by doing that, using all this land available, we would only get 60 units, said Michael Falk, director of recovery with the Municipality of Jasper.

Parks Canada has secured about 100 units of oilfield-style trailers to be installed as soon as possible, not nearly enough for every displaced person to live in.

Jasperites without homes plan to hold a rally on Friday to show their frustration.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson and The Canadian Press