When Janelle Pedersen looks at Buffalo Narrows’s first housing development in more than 20 years, she sees a future gated community where elders sit on front porches, children play, and neighbours help each other stay healthy and sober.
Just 13 months ago, the site was undeveloped land. Now, people are moving in and beginning to call the 29 new transitional housing units home.
Created by the Buffalo Narrows Friendship Centre, the initiative “isn’t a housing program,” according to Pedersen, the centre’s executive director. Residents receive wraparound care, including on-site addictions counselling, budgeting classes and food programs —all Indigenous-led, culturally specific and trauma-informed.