He added, “What May-Anderson spoke about at the podium was music to our ears. Exactly what we see as a need in our community and we want to see it move forward.”
Reference was made to the Belleville Police Station property on Dundas Street which will be left vacant when the service moves into a new building later this year. It is about four acres in size.
May-Anderson spoke of Habitat for Humanity pivoting to a new type of housing.
“We’re here today to talk about how our organization can pivot. There is something different we want to do with Habitat for Humanity, but we can’t do it alone, we need help. In fact, before we can start walking on this new path we need the City of Belleville for our new vision to become a reality.”
Twenty-four of the affordable rental units would be made available directly to the public or through community partners so they can provide shelter for the vulnerable populations they serve.
These residences would all be built barrier free, providing real housing opportunities for everyone, including seniors and the physically or developmentally challenged.
Ten of the affordable housing units would be reserved for qualifying Habitat partner families.
They would live at the Habitat Horizons Centre while completing educational courses and volunteering in the community to prepare them for future long-term success as potential homeowners under revised Habitat homeownership programs.
The 32 units with market rents would help financially sustain the entire community.
To pay for the $26 million project, Habitat will access the CMHC Housing Co-Investment Fund, part of Canada’s national housing strategy. CMHC would finance 95% of the construction costs and up to 15% of those costs could even be in the form of a grant as opposed to a loan.
Habitat would raise the remaining funds through accessing provincial funding and through a community fundraising campaign.
May-Anderson emphasized, “We have had detailed preliminary conversations with CMHC and what we are proposing meets all of their conditions to meet that 95 per cent financing threshold and you get amortizations as long as 50 years and interest rates are incredibly low, it’s really built for these kinds of programs,” said May-Anderson.
“So, what do we need from the City of Belleville? We need one thing, we need land.”
While Habitat for Humanity is searching for government funding, the city will search among its available lands sites for three to four acres of suitable land.
A report on the land will come back to council.
May-Anderson hopes it can all be accomplished in three years.
