United Housing reads for first affordable housing project

Less than a year after forming its own non-profit housing corporation, the United Way Perth-Huron has purchased its first building and has begun work to transform it into 10 affordable housing units.

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The building, located in downtown Listowel, will still host two commercial units on its ground floor while the somewhat neglected upper floor, currently used for storage, will be restored.

“It was opened on Dec. 17, 1895, so it’s been part of the Main Street of Listowel since almost the beginning of the Main Street of Listowel,” said Kathy Vassilakos, the executive director of United Housing.

The 190 Main St. W. location has previously been home to a number of well-known businesses, including the former Diana Sweet’s Restaurant downstairs and the McDonald Music Hall upstairs.

“So it’s a really important building, I think, from that perspective,” Vassilakos said.

United Housing had been in talks with the previous owner about inking a long-term lease. When the opportunity to purchase the building arose, however, agency officials decided it would be a good fit.

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‘We thought, ‘hey, this is a really great opportunity for United Housing to acquire a property,’ because that’s what we are, United Housing. We want to develop and build housing,” Vassilakos said.

“It was an interesting proposition, this idea of ​​putting residential units in the downtown area, and it’s consistent with (Perth County’s) new official plan, which wants to do all the residential intensification inside the built boundaries because you don’t want to use up farmland,” she said.

While still in the concept stages, the 418-square-meter space, once complete, will cost about $2.5 million, which includes the purchase price and the retrofit. To pay for the project, United Housing will be launching a capital fundraising campaign and selling community bonds in the new year.

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One-third of the completed units will be what agency officials describe as deeply affordable, one third will be below market rental rates, and the final one-third will be leased at the market rate. Having some of the units at market rate, Vassilakos explained, will help with the cash flow.

“From an operating perspective, obviously, I always say we’re not for profit. That doesn’t mean we can lose money. But also, just philosophically, we don’t believe in siloing people or segregation based on income levels and things like that. We think it’s just a good idea to have sort of a mixed-income model in our housing,” she said.

Seeing the need for more housing to address the ongoing crisis, United Way Perth-Huron launched United Housing last November when charity officials realized there was not presently a regional non-profit housing provider. The progress United Housing has made in less than a year, including this purchase, is “big,” Vassilakos added. Part of the impetus, she noted, is a recognition of a gap in affordable rental housing in Perth and Huron counties, she said.

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“Even if people were to get rent supplements. . . there simply isn’t the housing available. So the United Way is very active and supports and and launches connection centers, which are sort of a housing-focused service for people who are currently unhoused, and it’s a place where they can go to get the services that they need and to get support , but then to also be housing ready.

“But how do you get someone to be housing ready and then say ‘I’m sorry, there’s no available rental housing’?”

While United Housing does not have a goal to build a certain number of units built by a particular year, it does already have some plans in the works. The agency is looking to put roughly 40 new units above its new social services hub at the Listowel library property they own. Vassilakos said they are also looking at some yet-to-be-announced projects in Stratford.

“I think very much about our vision. . . is, by 2030, to be an established, not-for-profit housing provider in Perth and Huron counties — that, by 2030, we will have enough units that we will be established in sort of continuously building and acquiring more units,” she said.

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