Dozens of subsidized apartment units for seniors are proposed in a new six-storey building in downtown Owen Sound.
A public meeting was held at city hall Monday night on a zoning by-law amendment application from Lutheran Social Services, which is proposing a six-storey, 40-unit building on 3rd Avenue East.
The new building will be known as St. Clare Place. It will be located at 1043 and 1057 3rd Avenue East, across the street from the Owen Sound Transit Terminal. It’s also located near another Lutheran Social Services property — St. Francis’ Place.
“This is a really good development in a really good location. It’s in the downtown. A lot of the residents living there will not have vehicles to drive around,” says Ron Davidson, a planning consultant on the project. “So having a building this close to a large variety of services and shops is ideal.”
According to a report to council, St. Clare Place will be comprised of purpose-built rental housing for seniors. There will be 35 one-bedroom units, and five two-bedrooms. The proposal also includes a commercial unit on the ground floor, and 23 parking spaces.
Tenants at St. Clare Place must be 65 and older and will be selected from Grey County’s waiting list for subsidized housing.
“Under the program that we’ve applied for from (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation), these will all be subsidized units,” says Don Statham of Lutheran Social Services. “There won’t be any market units.”
Statham says the project won’t proceed unless an application for funding from CMHC’s Rapid Housing Initiative is approved. He expects to learn if it is successful by early June.
“If we don’t get the funding from the Rapid Housing Initiative program, we will be exploring different funding programs,” Statham says.
According to the CMHC website, the Rapid Housing Initiative aims to “create new units of permanent affordable housing for people and populations who are vulnerable and targeted under the National Housing Strategy.” A total of $1.5 billion was made available through two different application streams.
Grey County Housing is also contributing $3-million towards the seniors’ apartment building in Owen Sound.
“Some of it will be put into capital … and some of that money will be used to help subsidize the rents as we go through the project,” Statham explains.
City council approved a recommendation to direct staff to continue to process the application. The project will be eligible for a development charge exemption, councillors heard.
“This is a pretty neat project for our area and we’re happy to support it,” says Owen Sound Mayor Ian Boddy. “And happy to see the support coming from the county, which of course, looks after housing.”
