Community Living Owen Sound and District (CLOSD) is celebrating a groundbreaking event for a new supported living development.
On Friday morning, members of Community Living, along with Mayor Ian Boddy and Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Paul Vickers were on hand for the event.
The funding for the project included a $4.4-million contribution through the federal government’s Affordable Housing Fund, delivered by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
“Community Living is not funded to provide housing, so the only way that we can do something like this is with external support,” said Communications Manager Heather Travis. “While we like to provide people with safe housing, that’s not something we’re funded to do, and so this grant really helped facilitate the ability to take care of the community.”
The construction will be completed by Graham Construction.
The three-storey building will have two bachelor units, and eight one-bedroom apartments, as well as a common space and a patio in the back of the building. Those communal spaces are particularly important to help build a close-knit community within the building.
“There will still be some common space, they’ll be supported with staffing 24 hours. Even though it’s a supported independent living, we find that it’s actually good to support people through the night. We’re very excited that individuals will be able to have a space to call their own,” explained Community Living CEO Michele Bell.
While CLOSD normally supports individuals in a group housing setting, she said that this was the first time they’d be supporting individuals with their own units.
The finished building will be about 9,300 square-feet.
Construction is set to begin in the coming weeks, and is expected to be ready for occupancy by the end of 2026.
The property, which is at 1170 3rd Avenue East has been empty since a previous home at the address burned down.
The empty lot was then acquired by Community Living twelve years ago, and has been waiting, shovel-ready, until the funding was granted through external channels.
The official rendering of the 10-unit Community Living development, to be constructed at 1170 3rd Avenue East, Owen Sound (image via CLOSD)