Travel expenses for housing workshop approved

Posted on August 15, 2024 by Sunny South News

By Nikki Jamieson
Sunny South News

An RFD for a housing workshop attendance was approved by Coalhurst town council.

Presented by coun. Heather Caldwell during council’s regular July 16 meeting, she said a member of the Coalhurst Housing Committee, which she is a member of, had found a group online in Calgary that was holding workshops or training on middle housing. 

The group, Mddl, is dedicated to supporting the evolution of established neighbourhoods from primarily single-family homes into communities with diverse housing options. The course in questions, Mddl.co school, is a two-day course that teaches municipalities, housing providers, and others about the processes involved with middle housing development, infill, densification.

As the CHC has been exploring options to increase housing in town, Caldwell said she had reached out to the organizers as chair to see what was available, as they had indicated there were some subsidies available, and received fully subsidized tickets for up to three members of the housing committee.

“They were quite excited with the thought a small community would like to comes and take part, because they though it would really create unique opportunities for us,” said Caldwell. “When we have opportunities for this kind of education, to continue that growth, I would love for us to take advantage of those, particularly when registrations are being paid for for us.”

The training took place July 26-27. As Coalhurst Miner’s Days was that weekend, and the second day was primarily for networking, if approved, the attendees would go for the events on Friday, July 26, and be back for festivities on the Saturday. Going fo just the one day would also help keep costs down for attending.

While Middl is subsidizing the cost of the tickets, to attend the attendees are seeking approval for the mileage of one vehicle and expenses associated with one day per person would by applied as per the town’s policies, with those travel costs being funded from council’s budget for expenses.

Coun. Jesse Potrie, who is the vice-chair of CHC, noted he followed the founder of Mddl in social media, and was “a bit impressed by the work that they do”.

“I think one of the things we often here, especially in communities and from developers, is that, you know, we build single-family houses because we know that’s what sells, that’s what works,” said Potrie. “So, trying to bridge that gap of the missing middle they call it, right, with row housing and other kind of soft densification opportunities, I think in order to create success there, it would be good to hear from others. 

Mayor Lindsay Montina expressed excitement that the CH has embraced the role they were given and are looking for “opportunities and ways to fully activate and do things”.

Council passed a motion to approve funding from Council’s expenses budget allocations for the attendance associated with one day of travel to Calgary for two committee members to attend the Mddl.co training.