Kevin Albers, CEO of M’akola Group, is receiving an award at Government House for dedicating much of his life to creating affordable housing across the province.
M’akola builds affordable housing in urban centres primarily for Aboriginal people.
In an interview with the Gazette, he diverted any suggestion that he achieved this honour on his own and said he believes he won the award because of the work of his team, a testament to his humility. He is honoured to be included in the conversation with people who he views as making considerable differences in their communities.
“It’s a real honour to be able to go up there and stand up there amongst people I would look up to,” Albers said. “It’s really interesting for me to see the contributions people make, and contribute to their communities in this province, in this country, it’s amazing.”
He will receive the award from Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin. She is the former CEO, YWCA Metro Vancouver, and Albers is excited to receive the award from someone whom he has worked with in the past.
Albers grew up on the West Shore and has been with M’akola for 20 years. He started as a certified general accounting student looking for a job to further his education and experience.
Through his time at M’akola he has held the positions of finance manager, finance officer, acting executive director, executive director and has been CEO since 2005.
Albers said he didn’t know much about affordable housing when he started his career there, but it is something he has become passionate about and enjoys that it encompasses his development, financing and accounting skills.
He feels one of the highlights of his career thus far was building the M’akola location in Langford when they relocated from their downtown office.
Albers is proud of their space that displays art that recognizes First Nations groups from across the province and emphasizes the importance of what First Nations means to them as an organization.
Charla Huber, communications and Indigenous relations manager, said that Albers figured out how to turn the previous five town homes, into two head offices and 36 homes that now sit on the site. They are using this as a model to roll out to existing sites to multiply the number of homes on each plot, she said.
M’akola has expanded its development of affordable housing, which has created employment opportunities for people in the affordable housing sector.
They have 18 people in the development firm – they started with two – and have 46 projects on the go, Huber said.
The company has provided affordable housing for roughly 5,000 people across the province and they also work with other organizations to help them develop affordable housing across B.C. They are currently working on 2,500 units across the province, all headquartered out of the Langford office.
The organization has worked with 82 First Nations groups in B.C., Yukon, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Huber said M’akola has brought more affordable housing to Langford than any other provider, which is what residents ask for.
Huber nominated Albers for the award about a year ago. She said she put an application in without him knowing because she knew it’s not his style to accept an individual award. She wrote a letter, and gathered letters of support from three people in the community, one of them from Langford Mayor Stew Young.
Young and Albers work together continuously toward the common goal of more affordable housing and Young was more than happy to write a letter of support for Albers.
“He’s good at what he does and he’s been doing it a long time,” Young said. “He’s well deserving of the award.”
Young appreciates Albers’ business acumen, cost-conscious and swift approach, seeing projects through from the first ideas to rezoning to final touches.
Albers is also really great with people.
He has helped foster good relationships with provincial and municipal groups and First Nations groups to help the projects get off the ground. Albers said he to tries to create a space for people to live out their passion at work too.
Huber attests that she can live her passion at work and sees the wonderful corporate culture Albers has created, coupled with his working relationships and work he has done with First Nations groups, that’s why she felt he should be nominated.
Albers said the ultimate goal would be for M’akola to provide affordable housing to everyone who needs it, but until then, they will continue to increase the amount and availability of it in B.C. in urban centres that will give people access to education and jobs.
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
lindsey.horsting@goldstream