Workers set up temporary housing units which will be occupied by locals who lost their homes in last summer's wildfire in Jasper, Alberta on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Parks Canada *MANDATORY CREDIT *
The first trailers to house displaced locals rolled into Jasper this week, nearly seven months after a third of the town was ravaged by a wildfire.
By the end of the week, about 100 trailers containing approximately 200 livable spaces are expected to be in the snow-covered town.
The initial delivery will accommodate about 150 households. Essential workers such as teachers, doctors and nurses move in first.
Another 120 units of worker-style camps, featuring private bedrooms and bathrooms with shared kitchen spaces, are expected for later this month.
The interim housing will take up most of Jasper’s available land. As such, the town won’t be able to accommodate all of the more than 600 individuals and families who have applied for housing.
The cost of servicing the interim housing sites with water and installing roads, among other things, is expected to cost the town between $5 million and $7 million, an expense the province had previously committed to covering.
Since last July’s wildfire, the Alberta government has supplied Jasper with more than $178 million.
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