Canmore Community Housing Corporation hopes to break ground by fall for a new affordable rental housing project.
The stacked townhouse development would be located on a vacant lot owned by CCHC in Three Sisters Mountain Village at Dyrgas Gate and adjacent to other affordable housing projects completed in the past.
Executive Director Jennifer Bisley said exact details about the project are not yet finalized and she hopes by the end of the month the CCHC board will approve the project business plan.
Bisley said an acute and immediate need for rental housing has been identified in the community and CCHC was set to address the issue over a year ago.
“We were gearing up last spring to start work on this because we started seeing the signals and the signs in the market it was really time to act and of course the flood threw everybody off and so we find ourselves back here again this spring and hopefully on track,” she said.
Since the flood, CCHC has also undergone public consultations on housing and, while the final report is not ready, it does inform the organization as to the need for rental housing.
Bisley said applications to CCHC for rental housing at its 60-unit building The Hector, occupancy rates and turnover of ownership Perpetually Affordable Housing (PAH) inventory shows, “there is an immediate housing need identified with rental housing.”
The Hector has been fully occupied for over two years, while the number of inquiries to CCHC regarding housing in 2013 was more than double in 2011 at 400. CCHC also tracks the rental market and Bisley said for the past two years rental rates have gone up about 20 per cent and there has been a 50 to 60 per cent drop in the availability of one and two bedroom units.
“What we are seeing is a real, acute and immediate demand and need for rental housing and particularly for low and moderate income single adults and single parent families,” she said. “We do still see a need definitely for ownership options for low income families and also singles, but the rental need is immediate.”
Councillor Joanna McCallum, who sits on CCHC’s board, said while the business plan and feasibility study of the project is still under way, having a project on the horizon is exciting news.
“We have a less than one per cent vacancy rate in our community – absolutely it is needed,” McCallum said. “We have seen some early plans that are not even remotely concrete yet, but it is exciting to see them and once that is done we will work through the feasibility of what the financing will look like, and the split of units.”
The lot in Three Sisters is 1.04 hectares and is already serviced. McCallum added it is already zoned for affordable housing so it is the property that makes the most sense to develop immediately. It is hoped that 40 to 48 townhouse-style units would be developed that would range from one, two and three bedrooms and 695 to 1,100 square feet in size.
“Once the board approves the project business plan then we can have more information out to the public,” Bisley said. “Until then, we will talk in general concepts about what we are looking at.”
Whether a portion would be for PAH ownership as well as rental still has to be determined, along with financing for the project.
“For rental units, our typical strategy is to get financing, but be able to pay for the financing through rents,” she said. “That will also inform the mix of ownership and rental.”
Looking into the future, last year’s flood has also affected 14 ha of land designated for affordable housing in the Palliser Area. The municipality is conducting a detailed hazard and risk assessment for Stoneworks Creek, which saw a debris flow last June.
“By the end of the summer the town will have a hazard assessment for that area and we will know then what might be salvageable for development and what might not,” Bisley added.
