Region of Durham honours National Housing Day with a commitment to affordable rental housing

Whitby, Ontario – In honour of National Housing Day on November 22, The Regional Municipality of Durham is committed to helping initiate the development of 1,000 new affordable rental housing units, as detailed in the Master Housing Strategy.

To achieve this goal, the Region is taking innovative approaches. This includes working with private and non-profit sector partners. In March 2022, Regional Council endorsed the new At Home Incentive Program (AHIP), which provides capital grants and planning services to develop affordable housing. The AHIP led to a $7.45 million commitment to support two projects; $5.5 million for Riverbank Homes Limited to build 75 units in Oshawa, and $1.95 million for Kindred Works to build 13 units in Pickering. The second call for applications to the AHIP is open until December 20, with $5.5 million in funding available.

To help create strong and vibrant neighbourhoods, the Region continues to increase the amount of affordable and community housing. The Region supports more than 6,000 existing affordable community housing units and has 256 new units in development. We are currently in the early stages of redeveloping some Durham Regional Local Housing Corporation properties, which will increase the number of units and provide higher quality affordable housing.

For the Ritson School Project in Oshawa, the Region is exploring opportunities to include mixed-use and sustainably built housing, while preserving the heritage designated elements of the building for uses that will include health and social programs to serve the surrounding community.

To help address homelessness, a vital resource is transitional supportive housing, which provides accommodation and supports for developing life skills so that residents can successfully transition into permanent housing. The new Beaverton Transitional Supportive Housing residence will soon open to provide much-needed housing and access to wraparound services to its residents. It will also include a community service hub that will be open to all north Durham residents.

While there are many challenges with housing across Canada, including here in Durham, the Region remains committed to helping improve affordability and access to housing for residents.

For information on At Home in Durham, the Durham Housing Plan 2014-2024, visit durham.ca/AtHome.

Quote

“Durham Region is a beautiful place to live, with a mix of small towns and big cities that offer lively community centres, schools, trails, museums, concert venues, restaurants, sporting events and more. We know why so many people want to call Durham Region their home, which is why the Region is working with private and public sector partners to help create more housing opportunities.”

- John Henry, Regional Chair and CEO, Region of Durham

Quick facts

• The Master Housing Strategy emphasizes a holistic and systems-level approach to the planning of community, supportive and transitional housing, as well as homelessness supports and prevention. The Strategy supports At Home in Durham, the Durham Region Housing Plan for 2014 to 2024. For more information, visit durham.ca/AtHome.
• The Region is dedicated to affordable housing across municipalities and created a new position this year, Director of Affordable Housing Development and Renewal, to support these efforts.
• The AHIP supports the development of affordable housing in Durham Region. To be eligible, projects must provide a minimum of five affordable housing units and include one of the following: new construction; conversion of non-residential buildings to purpose-built rental housing; addition of new affordable buildings/units to existing sites/buildings; community housing redevelopment that increases the supply of affordable housing units. For more information, visit durham.ca/AHIP.
• In 2022, Durham Regional Council passed a resolution identifying Durham Regional Local Housing Corporation properties to be considered for revitalization. By redeveloping these properties, the Region of Durham will provide people with more, higher quality affordable housing, and create mixed income communities with market rent and rent-geared-to-income homes. For more information, visit durham.ca/CommunityHousingProject.
• The vision for the Ritson School Project will see the renovation and reuse of the former elementary school building and will offer health and social programs for the surrounding community. The project will also examine the unused lands on the school property for opportunities to include mixed-use, sustainably built housing. For more information, visit durham.ca/RitsonSchool.
• Beaverton Supportive Transitional Housing residence is a 47-unit modular building where priority access will be given to unsheltered residents and those at risk of homelessness from the townships of Brock, Scugog and Uxbridge—who require this form of accommodation and access to wraparound services.

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