Waterloo Regional Council approved plans to add 638 affordable homes over the next 10 years on Wednesday.
The homes will be built on existing properties in Kitchener, Cambridge and Waterloo and will add to the region’s current stockpile of 2,700 community housing units.
“Transforming some of our aging buildings will help us address the growing wait list for community housing and the growing number of tenant requests to move to units that better meet their needs,” Waterloo Region Housing (WRH) manager Mina Fayez-Baghat said in a statement.
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“This project may also lead to more supports being available for tenants in their buildings and new employment opportunities or skill development for people living in WRH communities.”
The move is part of the Waterloo Region Housing Master Plan, which has been under development over the past couple of years.
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“This is just one of the ways we are working to address housing affordability and availability in Waterloo Region while working with the resources we have,” the region’s director of housing services Ryan Pettipiere said.
Over the past five years, 209 affordable housing units have been constructed by the region with 92 others in the process of being built and a further 61 currently in development.
There are currently more than 4,600 people currently on the Region’s waiting list for affordable housing.
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