The official groundbreaking for the new 36-unit housing project for low income seniors and people with disabilities in Cranbrook was held Wednesday afternoon in Baker Park.

The project is the largest being done with module homes in the province. Cranbrook Mayor Scott Manjak said he expects construction to begin in the next four weeks and that the project will be complete by spring 2011.

The project will cost approximately $5.6 million, with $2.6 million contributed by the federal government, $2.2 from the provincial government and $756,900 from the Columbia Basin Trust (CBT).

MLA Bill Bennett said the housing being built in Cranbrook is part of a $33 million program to create housing in the province for low income seniors and is part of a larger investment of $560 million in provincial money towards housing this year.

“Mayor Manjak deserves most of the credit for pulling this whole thing together, it was his vision,” Bennett said. “It is really important to Cranbrook. We need this and we’ll probably need more in the future.”

The City of Cranbrook donated the land the housing will be built on in Baker Park and will provide some of the services. Manjak said the monetary value of what the City will contribute is about $300,000.

“It’s very important because we’re addressing an identified need and that was accessible and affordable housing for seniors population. Thirty-six units goes a long way to address that need,” Manjak said. “There’s always going to be a need and the challenge of that is how do you go about building the partnerships to address that need and that’s what today is really all about.

“I want to thank MP Abbott, MLA Bennett and the Columbia Basin Trust for their contributions to this important project for the City of Cranbrook.”

Kootenay-Columbia MP Jim Abbott said it was a pleasure to cooperate with the other levels of government on this project.

Garry Merkel, CBT Board Chair said one of the goals of the CBT is to assist communities in dealing with affordable housing issues.

“This is a unique opportunity for CBT to be involved, not only in creation of 36 units here in Cranbrook, but in the creation of a significant number of housing units Basin-wide and increasing seniors housing throughout the region is something that we are really pleased to be part of,” he said.