New development will help ease rental housing shortage in Brampton

1508

Over the past year, a new 15 storey residential building has slowly risen at the corner of Queen and Hansen.

247 Queen Street East is the newest affordable housing building in Peel. A partnership between Peel, Supportive Housing in Peel (SHIP), and the province and federal governments, funded the 205 unit building.

The building officially opened last week. MP Ramesh Sangha (Brampton Centre), MPP Harinder Malhi (Brampton Springdale), and Regional Councilors Gael Miles (7 & 8) and Martin Medeiros (3 & 4) were in attendance.

The building is unique in that it is a mix of public and private housing, one of the first of its kind in Brampton.

90 units are designated for people with specific circumstances, including:

  • 40 units for seniors
  • 30 units for survivors of domestic violence
  • 20 units for persons with disabilities

SHIP will have access to 20 unit overall and Peel will have 80 units. Residents will come from centralized waiting lists, which operate on a “first-come, first-serve” basis.

The exception to this is victims of domestic violence, who will have access to units as soon as possible. This will be assisted by the province’s recent Housing Benefit program, which has provided the Region of Peel with $1,001,000 to help provide housing subsidies to survivors to domestic violence.

As per a report from 2012, the rest of the units will be available for rent at 80 per cent of average rental costs. This will bring new affordable rental stock to the city.

Amenity space for all residents are on the 15th floor, including a roof top garden.

The building also has ground floor retail space, and the second floor will be dedicated to office uses.

Some of that non-residential space will be leased by SHIP for office, as well as DC Cleaning, a social enterprise business run by SHIP. DC Cleaning offers employment opportunities for community members who use SHIP services.

Martinway Contracting, the developer, has built several affordable housing buildings in Brampton. These include: Norton Lakes Residence, Snelgrove Apartments, Chapelview Apartments, and the new addition to St. Leonard’s Place Peel.

As of July 2016, 12,580 households are on Peel’s affordable housing wait list.