Housing crisis has Alberta city considering indoor campground

A northern Alberta city is considering opening up a warehouse where newcomers drawn by the oil and gas boom can pitch tents.

Housing is so tight in Grande Prairie that many working people are forced to live in tents, trailers or even their vehicles. With snow starting to fall and campgrounds closing for the season, the race is on to findways to addressthe crisis.

Housing worker Doug Haight says the warehouse idea would be a temporary solution.

"People uproot their families and they head to Grande Prairie knowing that there is work available here and good-paying jobs," he said. "They get here and realize there's no housing available and many of them resort to sleeping in campsites or tents even."

Families living out of vehicles

Kathy Cadorette and her husband have been living in the back of their pickup truck in parking lots of big-box stores for a week.

"It's uncomfortable because there's not enough room. It's cold," she said.

Wedged between the two front seats where she and her husband sleep is a small kennel for their cat.

The couple came to Grande Prairie from B.C. But rents run at about $2,000 for an average home, and most places ask for an immediate damage deposit of $1,500.

"It's very stressful, it's very hard, but somehow we're trying to get through it," said Cadorette.

The population of Grande Prairie, about 450 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, is expected to reach about 56,000 by the end of this year, double the 1991 figure.

Haightsays the real solution is more affordable housing units.

Currently, 1,500 people are on the waiting list for existing units. The City of Grande Prairie is building a 40-unit affordable housing project and hopes to triple that number in the next few years.