Creativity and teamwork lead to positive results for affordable housing

City works with Nepean Housing Corporation to create affordable housing When you think of affordable housing providers in Ottawa, who comes to mind? It’s likely that your first thought went to Ottawa Community Housing, the largest provider in our city. However, there are other organizations who make up an increasingly important network of providers that offer affordable housing across Ottawa. With over 14,000 households on the City’s Centralized Waitlist, providers like the Nepean Housing Corporation (NHC) are a key pillar to ensuring more people can find an affordable place to live. They’ve been a partner of the City since the late 1970’s and work hard to increase the supply of affordable housing in the west end. Most recently, in 2019, the NHC approached the City with an ambitious proposal that would increase the number of affordable units in Ottawa. The proposal called for a new building to be added to the existing Dunbar Court community, located just north of Greenbank Road and West Hunt Club Road. The building would increase the number of affordable units in the neighbourhood by 27 and fit well with the City’s wish to see intensification in existing communities. After successfully working together to navigate the funding needs, which included over $5.4 million in funding from the City and a $4.2 million contribution from the Ontario Priorities Housing Initiative, construction kicked off on June 5, 2023. The plan called for the construction of a three-story building with sustainability in mind. After a year and a half of work, the results truly speak for themselves. Not only is the building designed to be fully electric and energy efficient, but NHC took the extra step to make the building net zero ready. To achieve this, they:

• Installed insulation inside and outside the exterior walls;
• Outfitted each unit with a heat pump;
• Upgraded the transformer to accommodate a 100 per cent electric building.

These efforts will eliminate the building’s reliance on fossil fuels and improve comfort for residents through more stable control of internal temperatures. There was also a special focus to ensure 35 per cent of the units were designed with accessibility in mind, above the provincially mandated 15 per cent. On top of this, four of those units have been set aside for a special needs housing provider. These units include special accessibility measures to support people with mobility needs, vision and hearing loss, and more. It’s anticipated the new units will be ready for occupancy in early 2025. This development is an excellent example of a community partner working with the City to tackle the housing crisis and come up with tangible results. Affordable housing providers in Ottawa are tireless advocates for their sector, and it’s their commitment and determination that helps make projects like this one a reality. Did you know that the City is creating new housing options for Ottawa residents? In 2023 alone:

• 1,186 households were housed from the Centralized Wait List
• 610 new housing benefits were provided for low-income households and 106 new affordable and supportive housing units were completed.

In 2024, an additional 393 new affordable and supportive housing units have been completed, with another 1227 fully funded or under construction. For more information check out the 2023 Progress Report on the 10-Year Housing and Homelessness Plan. For more information on City programs and services, visit ottawa.ca, call 3-1-1 (TTY: 613-580-2401) or 613-580-2400 to contact the City using Canada Video Relay Service. You can also connect with us through Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram.