Affordable housing project gets provincial, federal funding boost

The new affordable housing project under construction at 174 Trillium Way in Paris is getting $500,000 in provincial and federal funding.

The money, announced Tuesday, will be used to help create 30 units for people with low vision, hearing loss, survivors of domestic abuse and Indigenous people in need of affordable housing.

“This new building will make a real difference in the lives of people in this community,” Perth-Wellington MPP Matthew Rae said Tuesday. “It will provide housing to some of the most vulnerable residents in this community for years to come.”

Rae said the provincial government is providing $340,000 through its Social Services Relief Fund to support the creation of 15 of the units. The fund has supported municipal housing programs throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

The balance of $260,000 is coming from the Ontario Priorities Housing Initiative, a joint provincial-federal government program.

Rae said the building will include barrier-free units and residents will be able to access everything they need on the main floor including a laundry room, a common area and easy access storage for electric scooters, Rae said.

The funding announcement was made during a ground-breaking ceremony that included Brantford-Brant MPP Will Bouma, Brant County Mayor David Bailey, Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis and Mary Musson, the city’s director of housing and homelessness. Rae is the parliamentary assistant to Steve Clark, Ontario’s municipal affairs and housing minister.

Construction of the $15-million, four-storey building began in mid-June and is expected to be finished in December 2024. It will have 49 one and two-bedroom units and will also provide housing to small families with mixed-income levels.

The building is the first major affordable housing project to be built in Paris in more than 40 years. The other project is a seniors’ building constructed in 1979 on Trillium Way next door to the new housing project.

Bailey said there is a need for the kind of affordable housing that will be available at the Trillium Way building.

“We have a huge shortage,” Bailey said. “

But through the work of the Mayors’ Housing Partnerships Task Force, the city and the county are working together to increase the supply of affordable housing, Bailey said.

Davis said the Trillium Way project shows what the city and county can do when they work together to serve residents more effectively.

Bouma thanked those involved in the project for making it a success.

The provincial government’s contribution will help local officials help more people find a safe place to live, Bouma said.

Back in 2018, there were 1,700 households on the local wait list for affordable housing. As of Dec. 31, 2022, that number has dropped to just over 1,200 households.

Tuesday’s ground-breaking ceremony was a trip down memory lane for Brant County Councilor Steve Howes. He was working at the Calbeck’s grocery store across the street and remembers delivering groceries to senior citizens to the existing Trillium Way seniors’ building 40 years ago.

“We would carry the groceries over and put them right on the kitchen counter of the residents,” Howes recalled. “After all this time, and with an increasing need in our community, I’m very pleased to see this second building become a reality.

“I look forward to more projects like this across the county.”

[email protected]

twitter.com/EXPVBall