Tenants are now moving into a recently completed affordable housing building in Nanaimo’s north end.
A 53-unit apartment building operated by the Ballenas Housing Society is now open in the 6000 block of Hammond Bay Road close to Dover Bay Secondary School.
The building includes a mix of one- and two-bedroom suites, with three accessible units. Half the units will be rented with a rent-geared-to-income arrangement, one-fifth of the units will be rented at deep subsidy as low as $375-500 per month, and the balance will be rented out at below market rent.
The project is a partnership between the housing society, the federal and provincial governments and the City of Nanaimo. The feds provided $13.5 million as well as a share of a $6.25 million in joint federal-provincial funding through the national housing strategy. The province will also provide, through B.C. Housing, $340,000 in annual operating funding. The housing society purchased the land and the city waived $221,000 in development fees.
Ballenas is still in the process of approving tenancy applications for the building, and Andrea Blakeman, the society’s chief executive officer, said many of the deep subsidy units will go to seniors as all involved are cognizant of the “enormous crisis” of seniors who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
That said, tenants of all ages will live at the building. The society continually hears from people challenged by the housing crisis and sees first-hand how stable housing changes lives for the better.
“It’s very common that we will hand a key to somebody or they will come into a unit and [say] ‘I’ve found my new home,’ and they sometimes burst into tears, man or woman…” Blakeman said. “Some of them have been living in cars, or some folks have been couch-surfing for years or living in horrendous situations and they’ve finally found a place that fits their needs and is the right location and has amenities that are appropriate for them and they’re just overwrought with emotion.”
Sheila Malcolmson, Nanaimo MLA and minister of social development and poverty reduction, said in a press release that the building will provide safe and affordable housing so that “seniors, families, and people living with disabilities can have the peace of mind that comes with a place of their own.”
Sean Fraser, federal minister of housing, said in the release that the 53 homes will allow people to “start their next chapters” in the city they call home.
“This project shows what is possible when governments and the housing sector come together for the betterment of all,” he said.
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