Rapid housing project in Regina’s North Central stalled by escalating costs, audit

WATCH: A rapid housing project in North Central Regina has been halted while an audit is conducted. Wayne Mantyka reports.

Work on a rapid housing project in Regina’s North Central Neighbourhood has come to a halt.

Escalating construction costs have prompted the City of Regina to withhold government funding to the contractors involved while an audit on the project is conducted.

“We have almost $2.5 million that has been outstanding as far back as June of 2024,” Edward Archibald of the Archibald Builders Group explained.

Initially, the construction cost was estimated at $7.5 million. Ottawa was providing most of the money with the city administering the funding.

However, actual costs are $4 million more than budgeted.

“A lot of these guys are small operations that don’t have the cash flow to be able to sit for months on end and carry things when you know in Saskatchewan there’s prompt payment legislation and we would expect that funds roll accordingly,” Archibald added.

The city is conducting a cost audit. In a written statement, it said:

“In recent months, the city has been closely examining progress on this project.”

The supportive housing units are being built in conjunction with the North Central Family Centre. The organization is trying to raise money to make up some of the short fall.

“We found that we needed to put a pause on construction so that we could identify the source of some additional funds to complete the project,” Doug McNair, chair of the Hopes and Dreams Campaign told CTV News.

“The City of Regina has been wonderful as a partner.”

The Family Centre feels that the housing is badly needed.

“It’s a really good cause and we were just looking to have the support of the greater community on this project and with our Hopes and Dreams Campaign we continue to work closely with our existing funding partners,” added Kim Wenger.

All involved with the project would like to see the funding resumed as soon as possible – so that the building can be completed and those in desperate need of housing can have a place to live.