Housing camp for flood victims closes only 2 months after opening

CALGARY- Just a couple of months after it opened, a housing camp for flood victims is shutting down.

The Great Plains community in southeast Calgary was built to house 700 people, and welcomed its first residents in mid-October. However, only 45 people are currently living there.

On Thursday, the province said it would shut down the facility sometime in the next 60 days.

“This 30 to 60 days, it’s something we’re aiming for but it’s not a hard and fast deadline,” says Alberta Municipal Affairs spokesperson Tricia Anderson. “We won’t be putting anyone on the streets, we really need to transition these people first to alternate accommodations.”

There is another camp set up for those who were affected by the flood in High River, and Anderson says the decision to close Great Plains came down to numbers.

“The demand for housing at Great Plains and even Saddlebook in High River has declined substantially, and we are starting to wind down the Great Plains site and Saddlebrook site in phases.”

Saddlebrook will remain open until at least the spring.