This neighbourhood is a great place to live and we want to keep it an inclusive area for everyone – including all different income levels. We have committed to creating at least 75 affordable units and hopefully more by working on further funding and financing options. We aim to have a balanced mix of market units that will help subsidize affordable housing and community spaces.
Our redevelopment project at our 248 Ossington location is prompted by the poor condition of the current building. It makes no sense to continue to pay for its much-needed repairs. Instead, we have the opportunity to build a better space to better serve the community, and get some much-needed affordable housing at the top. There is not a ‘do nothing’ option.
Our plans for programs on-site is to maintain the existing programs here: Adult Day Program for frail seniors and people with dementia and other cognitive disorders, EarlyON pre-school activities, Meals on Wheels, some Settlement Services, and community group spaces, etc. It is never possible to fully predict and commit to planning as we will also continue responding to changing community needs and will be impacted by any funding changes. We can commit to serving our community to the best of our ability out of a new space for us all.
Despite a lot of planning to date, we are still in a relatively early stage of design. We are submitting plans that show the basic height and massing of a new building for the Zoning By-law Amendment stage, but design details such as the materials and finishes will be finalized in the Site Plan Approval stage later on. Community consultations will happen with both stages.
We are aiming to have the housing on this site reflect different neighbours we support in our programs: from young families to single seniors – and everyone in between! One of our goals to have as many family-sized units as possible.
As some affordable housing funding models fund only per unit, not per bedroom, building larger units comes with costs which we will have to find ways to cover. Another decision we are making is to incorporate universal design in all units which has flexibility incorporated to add extra accessible features if/when needed.
The building will take up to five years to complete, so this is the start of a journey that we know will be worth it to make together! We hope to be building by 2027/28 pending planning approvals and funding/financing, and our goal is to realize occupancy in 2030.
FAQs:
Will there be parking?
There is a very high water table on this site and therefore we cannot dig down which means there will be no underground parking. There will be a loading area on the site (not on the street as we have now) and lots of bicycle parking. Currently, there is not parking on-site.
What is happening to the intersection at Ossington and Dundas?
We are taking the drop off (our vans, WheelTrans, taxis) and deliveries off Dundas to an internal loading/drop off area (at the expense of West NH internal program space).
What’s happening to the existing courtyard?
We share sadness at losing the courtyard and will try to make up for that with as much greenery as we can into the building design. Our goal is to include a large auditorium/gym space that will provide community space. This is expensive and we are looking for funds to have this gym/auditorium be a great community asset.
Is this building going to be sustainable?
We have a Climate Action Coordinator whose research combined with our architects’ expertise is helping us decide on what are the most cost-effective green technologies we can incorporate into the new building. It will be heavily dependent on funding.
Will the building be pet-friendly?
We hope to welcome all different households. We have heard (and experienced ourselves) the need for local dog toileting. We are looking for funding to incorporate a publicly-accessible dog toilet that goes into the treated sewer system.
Why can’t there be more affordable homes?
We want as many affordable units as we can have. Funding and financing options are quite up in the air. The new Build Canada Homes from the federal government is not nearly as well-funded as their past CMHC funding programs. We appreciate the generous support of the City of Toronto who have funded most of the pre-development planning in order to advance as much affordable housing as possible. Any housing we build that is not immediately affordable, will be rent-controlled so eventually will be affordable.
Our Commitment to Righting Relations:
- West Neighbourhood House acknowledges the Indigenous peoples who have held relationships with this land.
- We are prioritizing reaching out to Indigenous communities amongst the first in our consultations. We hope to consult with Indigenous groups to learn what we can do to make our new building welcoming and inclusive of Indigenous peoples, including exploring partnerships around housing access and access to programming/ ceremonial space.
For more information, please contact:
Rui Martins, Community Relations Coordinator, at 416-371-9261 or email ruima@westnh.org.