Public Housing Improvements to Be Made

About 50 people will be hired this spring to make major improvements to public housing buildings throughout industrial Cape Breton, Premier Russell MacLellan said today. The Cape Breton Island Housing Authority will manage the $1.2-million project.

"This project is good news for two reasons. First, it creates jobs here in Cape Breton where they are badly needed, and second, it improves some of the oldest public housing stock in the province," said the premier.

Some 94 family buildings will receive improvements such as new siding, chimneys, windows and front and rear entrance canopies. Minor improvements will be made to exteriors of some units, including new gutters, clotheslines and outside lights. Major projects are in Glace Bay, North Sydney and Sydney.

"We're able to do this project because of the federal-provincial social housing agreement," said Ray White, Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs. "This allows savings in social housing to remain in the province and to be reinvested in social housing."

The Cape Breton Social Housing Modernization and Improvement Project begins in May and runs for about 26 weeks.