By Chris Mason
The former Beaver Barracks site on Metcalfe Street is set to be developed into affordable housing units, 10 years after the city originally acquired the land for that very purpose.
Somerset Ward Coun. Diane Holmes says she is happy to finally see the project come together after so many years, but acknowledges developing the site is only a small step towards improving the affordable housing situation in Ottawa.
“There is an enormous need for this kind of housing,” Holmes says. “I want to push this through now that we’re finally getting somewhere.”
Council approved rezoning of the land on Sept. 10. Since then, city staff has been putting together guidelines that future developers will have to follow.
Holmes says most affordable housing plans were shelved when the Conservatives took power in 1995. Many of these projects are being dusted off now that a new government is in control and provincial funding is being restored.
There are slightly fewer than 12,000 Ottawa families on the affordable housing waiting list. This project should provide approximately 60 units, according to Holmes.
There are several groups interested in joining the project.
“We’re interested in looking at the site,” says Margaret Singleton, general manager of the Ottawa Community Housing Corporation, a non-profit organization that receives funding from the City of Ottawa. “We’ll likely participate in any project on that site because its location is attractive.”
Besides being a large piece of land, it is next door to a YM/YWCA facility. Although the YM/YWCA is unlikely to be directly involved in the project, Holmes says there is potential for joint programs.
Singleton also says the location is ideal, as it is downtown and in a nice neighbourhood.
A barracks was built on the site during the Second World War. It was torn down in 1991.
The property has served various purposes since being transferred to the city from the federal government in a land-swap deal a decade ago. Although, the future site of the housing is vacant, there are urban gardens in one corner of the property and a City of Ottawa emergency services building is being built on another corner.
Urban garden users were told their space was going to be taken away to make room for the emergency services building and the affordable housing development, but area residents fought the decision and won. The gardens will be untouched by the housing project, which will fill the northern piece of the land facing Argyle Street.
Others in the affordable housing industry say they expect the project to move along quickly.
“The current city council has been very helpful,” says Trudy Sutton, executive director of Housing Help, a non-profit organization representing Ottawa tenants. “It’s the province that has done nothing.”
Sutton says it is unlikely the affordable housing problem will be reduced so long as the city is the primary driving force behind these projects.
She says she is optimistic the new provincial government will pay more attention to affordable housing than its predecessors.
Ottawa has the second-highest average rent for single-bedroom apartments in Canada, according to an Ottawa Social Housing Network fact sheet. The $768-a-month average was second only to Toronto, says Sutton.
The plan is still in the early stages of development, but now that rezoning issues have been settled, Holmes says she is confident those near the top of the affordable housing waiting list will soon have reasonably-priced housing.