YWCA set to take over Regina affordable housing project

YWCA Regina is set to take over an affordable supportive housing project that ran into funding difficulties.

The city’s executive committee voted unanimously to recommend council approve the transfer of the 30-unit project known as Orange Buffalo Lodge at 2710 5th Avenue to the YWCA.

Construction first began on the project in 2023, after the city received $6.6 million in federal housing funding and transferred it to the North Central Family Centre, a proponent for the project.

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It soon ran into cost overruns described as “significant,” and in 2025, city council contributed up to $3 million in housing accelerator funding to finish construction. Early this year, the city became the owner and began the process to choose a new operator.

Out of four submissions, the winner was YWCA, which will be required to meet all of the conditions tied to the federal funding, including affordable housing for a minimum of 20 years.

The organization said the hybrid model it’s proposing will combine supportive housing with family reunification. Clients will be referred through social services and community partners.

“It will require additional funding – program funding beyond SIS (Saskatchewan Income Support) and SAID (Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability) – for us to be able to operate this to the level that we want to operate it to serve the people we think need this space the most,” the YWCA’s Melissa Coomber-Bendtsen said. “It will require additional funding through the Ministry of Social Services specifically, but also (the Ministry of) Justice as well.”

She said the extra dollars are needed to expand programs the YWCA already offers, but added there is a backup plan to operate the affordable supportive housing units with a smaller staff.

The YWCA said the intent is to provide a resource for Indigenous women and their families, and efforts will be made to reserve 17 of the units for Indigenous residents. The city would have the option of buying back the property for one dollar if conditions are not met.

Ward 3 councillor David Froh suggested that, with a waiting list of 4,000 women and children, the project is only nibbling at the edges of the problem.

If council approves at its June 29 meeting, the YWCA will also be able to use any of the accelerator funding left over to help develop a community space in the main floor.

That space would include a laundromat employing residents of the lodge, a commercial kitchen and catering enterprise to create employment for women and youth, and a family space.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly described David Froh as the councillor for Ward 8. It has been updated to reflect that he is the councillor for Ward 3.