Redevelopment of Woodcroft townhouse complex to create three times as many homes
Brentwood Builds in the Woodcroft neighbourhood will be completed in eight phases.
A 69-unit apartment building, consisting of 28 affordable units, will be built in the first phase. The majority of units will be rented out at market level to help cover the cost of the affordable units in a model the Brentwood Community Development Group calls self sustaining.
The project received $2.3 million from the city's Affordable Housing Investment Program and $4 million from its Infill Infrastructure Fund, which is supported by the federal Housing Accelerator Fund, as well as $6.7 million from the province's Affordable Housing Partnership Program.
'All three orders of government, private sector, and public sector all aligned because we understand that having a stable, affordable place to call home is absolutely essential for building inclusive communities, welcoming community, but also the success, the prosperity that we want to see in our city,' Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said during a press event on Wednesday.
Brentwood Community Development Group bought the existing Brentwood Homes townhouse community at 139 Street and 115 Avenue in the 1970s and expanded it to its current size throughout the following decades.
Redeveloping in established neighbourhoods is 'just sensible,' said new Edmonton-Centre MP Eleanor Olszewski, who is Canada's minister of emergency management and community resilience and also the minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development of Canada.
'It helps us make better use of the space and of the infrastructure that we already have. And it's really the kind of smart, locally led solution that we need at this point in time,' Olszewski said.
Sohi spearheaded an initiative for Edmonton to officially declare housing and homelessness an emergency in January.
According to the city, one in four renters struggle to make rent.
Jason Nixon, Alberta's minister of assisted living and social services, on Wednesday said that kind of declaration that doesn't come with an investment or action has the potential to only be symbolic, but that in this case, the province agrees significant investment is needed in social services, emergency services and housing.
'This is a critical component of the work that we have to do together, but also continue to be able to create a market in our province that allows builds to be able to keep affordable housing across the province. We've worked very closely with the mayor of Edmonton and his city council, as well as Mayor (Jyoti) Gondekdown in Calgary and her city council to create an environment that has now led the country for about two years straight.'
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