Quinte West Council held a public meeting Monday evening during a council session about building more affordable housing at the former College Street School location.
Council listened to concerns from the public about traffic in the area and the impact of a large, four-storey apartment building in the area.
A large part of the discussion was lead by Councillor Terry Cassidy in regards to the number of accessible units on the property.
While current plans call for four of the 32 planned units to be designed to be accessible, in compliance with regulations, Councillor Cassidy advocated for increasing that number to six or more. Cassidy went on to point out the population is aging and more people may need disability-friendly accommodations.
“I wanted to see that we increase it above the minimum amount, which I believe is around 15%. Because there are a lot of people who are housed poorly right now that have disabilities, and it’s really expensive to renovate housing, apartments, whatever, once it’s already built,” said Councillor Cassidy.
Paulette Kinmond, a local resident who does outreach with vulnerable people with At The Crossroads Church and Catherine’s Kitchen, spoke to the need for more projects like this, and that increasing housing costs are driving established families out of their homes when they can’t keep up with rising interest.
“Many people think that the individuals that come to Catherine’s Kitchen are all homeless, meaning they’re living in tents, or they’re living in cars, or they’re living in motels or they’re living on the street. Well, I’m here to tell you it’s changed a lot since the early part of this year. We’re now seeing families,” Kinmond said. “Because we’re now seeing families who are mortgage owners, home buyers, or homeowners excuse me, who are having to sell their homes because of the rising cost of interest rates and can’t keep them. We’re seeing people being evicted from properties who have been tenants for many years. Ten plus in many cases, because now the landlords are selling the properties.”
Council voted unanimously to declare the property surplus to the needs of the city, taking the next step in the process to develop the land.
