The Chair for East Borderland Community Housing says they have not given up on their dream for a personal care home in the Sprague area. But Elsa Laing says it is becoming increasingly more difficult to pull this off.

Laing says their organization came to be in 2004 and almost immediately they started fundraising for a PCH. Back then they were told that before any government approvals would happen, the local community needed to cover ten per cent of the overall cost.

In 2017, Laing suggested the cost to build the 20 bed facility would be about $8 million. That would mean about $800,000 would need to be raised locally. Laing says they already have that in cash and pledges.

But then last year, the provincial government changed its funding model. Now, the province will contribute $133,000 per bed. Laing says to build a 24 hour care facility will probably cost $400,000 per bed. That means, the required local contribution is now creeping up to 75 per cent.

"It's just not doable for us," says Laing. "We can not be compared to Steinbach or the larger centres."

Laing says they last spoke with their MLA in October and at that point, the government did not intend to change its position.

"That being said, they are kind of mute on the issue of are they going to service an area like ours or not," says Laing. "So that's what we need to hear."

She plans to contact their MLA again. But, Laing admits eventually there comes a point where it seems futile to be fundraising for something the province has no intentions of approving.

East Borderland Community Housing holds a book sale each spring at Clearspring Centre in Steinbach. Laing says they have decided to cancel the sale planned for April. With Bethesda Auxiliary disbanding, Laing says they knew they would be offering books at blowout prices at their last sale. That would possibly mean East Borderland's sale would be less productive and Laing says the decision was made to cancel the sale and focus on a potentially larger sale in September.