SoHo housing project ready to rent first affordable units
One of the developers from Vision SoHo Alliance is now accepting applications for the first available units in the newly-named Village SoHo complex in London.
Zerin Development Corporation is part of a group of six non-profit developers who have been working since 2022 to transform the Old Victoria Hospital grounds into a massive housing project with 690 units — including 410 affordable units and 280 market-rate units.
"It has the potential to be something really special," said Greg Playford, the London Community Foundation representative with the Vision SoHo group.
What will be the first finished building, Zerin Place, built by Zerin Development Corporation, is located at 370 South St. and features 119 units in total, including 60 affordable ones, all geared toward seniors.
The market-rate units in Zerin Place start at $1,695 per month for a one-bedroom apartment. The model units will be available to view later this month and will be move-in ready in the fall.
Playford said he expects the affordable units to go quickly but directed those interested in applying for them to check the new Village Soho website.
"We could have built 800, or probably 8000 affordable units, and they'd be in demand," Playford said. "We're just touching the surface, but it's one step at a time and I think we're making something really impactful."
Now in the final stages, the Village SoHo project has overcome obstacles. Construction was delayed in 2023 when Indwell, one of the other non-profit developers, was forced to scramble for funding. Indwell is redeveloping the former War Memorial Children's Hospital and Victoria Health Services Building into supportive apartment units.
Developers lay out their vision and a new timeline for old hospital lands
Despite past difficulties, Playford said everything is on track.
"As complex as the project is, it's been a great success time-wise," Playford said. "We are on schedule. We are on budget."
A mixed-income community
Sister Joan Atkinson chairs the board at London Affordable Housing Foundation (LAHF), another member of Vision SoHo Alliance. She is disappointed that Village SoHo won't be providing more affordable units, but she believes it is beneficial to create a mixed-income community, she said.
"If everybody is at the very lowest level of income, nobody is able to do very much to help each other," she explained.
Atkinson also added that the mixed model is common in affordable housing across Canada. There are a lot of costs in a project like this, she said. Some non-profits, including LAHF, get fewer subsidies and often need to pay back government money over time, and charging market-rate for some units can help cover some costs.
Playford agreed, pointing out that it's the market-rate rent prices that help offset the affordable units. He also saw merit in the social aspect.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
14 minutes ago
- CTV News
Mayor ‘confident' property tax increase will come in below target— and then some
It took some budget wrangling, but Mayor Morgan believes next year's tax increase will be under 5 per cent. CTV London's Daryl Newcombe reports. It took some budget wrangling, but Mayor Morgan believes next year's tax increase will be under 5 per cent. CTV London's Daryl Newcombe reports. Mayor Josh Morgan is now expressing confidence he can get the 2026 property tax increase below 5 per cent, and that doesn't include an additional $8.45 million available from last year's massive surplus. On Wednesday, members of the Budget Committee wrangled over a number of proposals intended to reduce next year's tax increase that currently stands at 7.4 per cent in the multi-year budget. Coun. Susan Stevenson's request for a business case about reducing the size of the Heritage Planning Department sparked a lengthy debate about Civic Administration's internal service review process. 'When it comes to the service review, council doesn't play a role,' argued Stevenson. 'When do we get to look (at department budgets) line by line? When do we get to hear about the departments? What they're doing, what they're focused on, and why the numbers are up?' A number of councillors emphasized that staffing levels are part of Civic Administrations ongoing service review process. 'When they've done the review and when they do it again next year, if they identify that there are some changes needed in the Heritage Department that's the appropriate time for that to come forward,' explained Coun. Skylar Franke. 'I have full confidence and trust in staff to be able to do that in a transparent and regular manner.' But Stevenson suggested the tax relief being demanded by many Londoners will require a deeper dive into municipal spending, 'We are going to have to find areas to cut costs. That is just for sure. What [cuts] are we going to look at if we don't want to look anywhere?' Mayor Josh Morgan Mayor Josh Morgan presenting a report to the Budget Committee on June 11, 2025. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London) During 2024-2027 Municipal Budget deliberations, Civic Administration's internal service reviews have provided savings of $14 million in 2024, $6.8 million this year, and $6 million (so far) for 2026. The mayor defends the internal process that includes right-sizing municipal departments and services, 'In 2016, council developed the robust service review process that has returned well over $250 million to Londoners and avoided tax increases. This is the department by department review [and] zero based budgeting.' The Budget Committee meeting also included a presentation by the mayor about mandatory Development Charge (DC) exemptions for affordable housing and other qualifying developments. A letter from Ontario's Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing confirms that the City of London is not required to continue setting aside millions of dollars each year to offset the exemptions. Savings to the property tax supported budget, water budget, and wastewater budget will total $10 million in 2026—and avoid a $32 million projected shortfall in 2027. 'This is very positive! I really appreciate the lobbying work that you (the mayor), the folks at AMO (Association of Municipalities of Ontario), and our staff have done,' said Coun. Sam Trosow. However, Stevenson said provincial policies have not changed since budget deliberations a few years ago when she tried to convince colleagues that offsetting the DC exemptions was unnecessary. 'The fact that this was available to us, the fact that clarity is coming so late, I think is a little bit concerning,' she asserted. 'You can say this is fact, but those aren't facts,' responded Morgan, who added that the province's clarification was necessary for London and other municipalities to discontinue backfilling the exemptions. 'The only people who can interpret the [Development Charges] Act with the authority that gives us the courage to take these sorts of actions are the people who pass that legislation, which is the provincial government,' he told Stevenson. Achieving the mayor's tax target of below 5 per cent will require about $13 million in new revenue and/or savings. Morgan said his target is now within striking distance, 'We've got boards and commissions who have said they're looking for savings, so with their help, the continued work of our staff, [and] the continued work of this council through the budget process, I'm confident that we can get under five [per cent] now.' In addition, council set aside $16.9 million from last year's massive budget surplus for tax relief purposes in 2026 and 2027. Utilizing $8.45 million each of those years would further reduce the 2026 tax increase by about another 1 per cent. Morgan will release his draft budget Oct. 27. The public will then be asked to provide input prior to budget deliberations by council in late November.
Cision Canada
30 minutes ago
- Cision Canada
Vantage Foundation Joins The Habbit Factory to Empower Young Voices Through Creative Confidence
LONDON, June 11, 2025 /CNW/ -- Vantage Foundation is proud to support The Habbit Factory, a London-based charity that uses the power of theatre and creativity to help children build self-confidence, resilience, and a sense of self-expression. This partnership reflects Vantage Foundation's commitment to community engagement and inclusive empowerment for young people – especially those from underserved or disadvantaged backgrounds. The Habbit Factory has been a champion of creative youth development for over 20 years. With a focus on inclusiveness and emotional support, the organisation designs theatre-based programmes for children and teens to improve public speaking, storytelling, and personal confidence. Today, the charity supports 156 young people through its membership programme and reaches hundreds more through school outreach and education partnerships. As part of its continued mission to uplift communities, Vantage Foundation volunteers joined The Habbit Factory's creative workshop, lending their time and energy to inspire the next generation. Among them was Ben Joseph, who brought his background in dance and performing arts to the session. "Many of these children come from disadvantaged backgrounds and may lack self-esteem or confidence," said Ben Joseph. "By earning their trust and creating a supportive space, we help them grow, express themselves, and discover who they are. The Habbit Factory is a safe and empowering place for every child, and I'm proud to have contributed to something so meaningful." The charity's impact is driven largely by volunteers – many of whom are former participants who return to give back. This cycle of mentorship and transformation lies at the heart of The Habbit Factory's enduring success. "We thoroughly enjoyed hosting the Vantage Foundation at The Habbit Factory. It was a meaningful opportunity for both teams to connect, share ideas, and learn from each other's approaches to community impact," said Lee Giles, Artistic Director & CEO of The Habbit Factory. "Supporting The Habbit Factory aligns deeply with our mission at Vantage Foundation," said Steven Xie, Executive Director of the Vantage Foundation. "We believe in building confidence through creativity and connection. Seeing our volunteers actively participate in such a powerful, community-led initiative reaffirms our commitment to creating meaningful impact in the lives of young people." Together, Vantage Foundation and The Habbit Factory demonstrate the incredible potential of partnerships rooted in compassion, creativity, and shared purpose. Through this collaboration, they aim to build a future where every child has not only the voice – but also the confidence – to use it. Vantage Foundation Vantage Foundation is an independent charitable organization launched at the McLaren Technology Centre in the UK in 2023. The foundation has partnered with organisations worldwide, including Grab Indonesia, the iREDE Foundation in Nigeria, Teach for Malaysia, and Instituto Claret in Brazil, to drive impactful social initiatives.
Globe and Mail
an hour ago
- Globe and Mail
3 Warning Signs That It's Time to Sell Cardano
Few investments age gracefully when the world around them speeds up. The same pressure applies in crypto. Builders, investors, and users do not wait politely for laggards to catch up; they migrate to speed, liquidity, and, most of all, excitement. That reality now confronts Cardano (CRYPTO: ADA), which was once celebrated for its emphasis on peer-reviewed research to advance its underlying technology, as well as for its deliberate pace of technical progress. Three red flags, in particular, suggest that the project risks permanent middle-of-the-pack status unless something changes quickly. Let's check out each of these warning signs in detail. 1. Rivals are racing ahead in every dimension In the crypto world, developers are the lifeblood of a blockchain. They build decentralized apps (dApps), protocols, and tools that generate utility, liquidity, and real-world adoption. A thriving developer ecosystem attracts users, capital, and other partners, creating a virtuous cycle that drives a chain's value and growth. Without them, even the most technically sound chain can remain a ghost town. In terms of developer activity in Cardano's ecosystem, it doesn't hold up very well against its chief competitors, Ethereum and Solana. Per Cryptometheus, a cryptocurrency data provider, Solana had 499 active developers, and Cardano had just 175 developers pushing updates for the week, down 33% from three months ago. Furthermore, developers flow toward concentrations of capital, and that capital is pooling elsewhere. Fidelity, a major asset manager, filed in March to list a Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF). Bloomberg now pegs the approval odds of that ETF at 90% for 2025, which would be an institutional seal of approval that no Cardano product enjoys. Meanwhile, Solana's total value locked (TVL) on its chain was nearly $12 billion in January and currently rests at around $8.6 billion. Cardano's TVL is just $331.6 million, down from $680.8 million in early December 2024. That means there's less real money parked on its chain. And when builders, money, and regulators all prefer the other options, it's a big problem. 2. New upgrades aren't getting used Blockchains tend to have technical constraints. Sometimes, those constraints are troublesome enough for users that the main engineers of the chain create big new modules or other solutions in an attempt to prevent the flight of disaffected investors, users, or ecosystem developers. The success or failure of those solutions is, thus, often a major factor in determining whether to invest in the chain's native token. And in Cardano's case, the record with successfully developing workarounds to the chain's issues isn't great, at least not in recent times. Cardano's Layer-2 (L2) system, Hydra, dazzled testers with a 1 million transactions-per-second (TPS) demo last December, implicitly promising to solve the issue of lethargic transaction times during periods of peak load. L2s like Hydra are designed to handle transactions off the main blockchain, reducing congestion and perhaps also fees while maintaining security and interoperability. But they only matter if users adopt them and volume grows. Otherwise, they're tech demos, not adoption drivers. Five months after launch, no major exchange, payment processor, or other project has committed to using Hydra beyond a pilot. Another solution, called Midnight, is a side chain, which means it's a parallel network intended for specialized features such as privacy, among others. Side chains can extend a blockchain's functionality by providing specialized services that don't burden the main chain. Midnight aims to attract institutional users who want confidential holding of assets on the chain, but so far, no major financial players have signed on, and no real user base exists. These technical marvels might eventually matter. But until developers, institutions, or users adopt them, they remain tantalizing but empty promises. And that's a big warning sign that Cardano is failing to match its development of capabilities to the features that are actually in demand. 3. Cardano's mindshare is eroding, not expanding Crypto is a popularity contest masquerading as a set of technologies. On June 4, Cardano counted around 23,273 daily active addresses, whereas Solana cleared nearly 5 million in the same day. That gap widens whenever meme coin mania or non-fungible token (NFT) drops spark traffic spikes. Those are segments where Cardano barely registers, as its ecosystem is very sparse in both areas. Social chatter mirrors the numbers. Per data from Santiment, a crypto data aggregator, Cardano ranks far below Ethereum and Solana in terms of social media post volume, hinting that investor excitement has simply remained elsewhere. If users, developers, and institutions are not talking about Cardano now, why would they flock to it later? In other words, Cardano's investment thesis -- that academic rigor in the tech development process will eventually lead to late-bloomer dominance -- faces mounting counter-evidence. Unless Hydra suddenly wins real traffic or Midnight lands marquee clients, the token's upside may remain capped while the opportunity cost mounts. And there's just not much evidence to suggest that's happening, nor is there any reason to believe it will soon. Should you invest $1,000 in Cardano right now? Before you buy stock in Cardano, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Cardano wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $669,517!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $868,615!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is792% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to171%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 2, 2025
