Waterloo Region provided an update on the affordable housing project under construction on Block Line in Kitchener on Friday, saying that the new development is coming along at a rapid pace.
The project, which is being built on land provided by the City of Kitchener with the support of YW Kitchener-Waterloo, will be ready for tenants by early next year.
“Safe and affordable housing is a human right,” Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic said.
“The Rapid Housing Initiative is a truly collaborative effort to build much-needed affordable housing.”
In all, there will be 41 new homes that will include built-in supports for residents such as case and crisis management, daily life skills, access to food bank services, and move-in-supports.
The homes will be available to women experiencing or at risk of homelessness, which the region says will reduce the number of people experiencing chronic homelessness.
“People who are ‘chronically homeless’ have been staying in shelters or on the street for at least six months of the past year, or at least eighteen months of the past three years,” Elizabeth Clarke, CEO of the YW Kitchener-Waterloo, stated.
“And that’s the minimum. In many cases, the women who will be moving into YW Block Line Supportive Housing have been homeless for years.”
Shovels first hit the ground in March so occupancy will begin less than a year later.