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More than 1K new homes included in affordable housing project in Waterloo
Waterloo says a new affordable housing project will include more than 1,000 homes. CTV's Heather Senoran has the details.
The City of Waterloo has finalized the transfer of city-owned land for an ambitious affordable housing project said the be the only one of its kind in the country.
The city hosted an event Thursday at the 25-acre piece of land at 2025 University Avenue East, near RIM Park, to celebrate the next step in the project.
Habitat for Humanity Waterloo Region partnered with the city for the project that will include more than 1,000 homes from studio apartments to four-bedroom units for families.
'There's going to be a bit of everything. The idea here is to create a whole community so it's not what's normally being built. It's not patchwork,' said Philip Mills CEO of Habitat for Humanity Waterloo Region. 'Everything you'd need - daycares, a gym, health care, food.'
Affordable Housing at 2025 University Avenue East Waterloo
The future site of an affordable housing project at at 2025 University Avenue East was pictured on June 26, 2025. (Heather Senoran/CTV News)
Waterloo's mayor, Dorothy McCabe, said it is a once-in-a-generation transformational project.
'About 30 per cent will be for deeply affordable [units]. Thirty per cent will be for affordable. And the rest will be attainable,' she said.
It's expected to cost about half a billion dollars with $22 million in funding coming from the federal government's Housing Accelerator Fund.
'A huge portion of that is going into the work that's being done on this site and to provide some compensation to the city for the land itself,' McCabe said.
It will be a mix of rented and owned homes. The price to rent or to own will depend on the size of the unit and other factors. The team said they will be among the most affordable homes on the market.
The team hopes the project will have national impact.
'We're really hoping that other communities will take a look at this and see how this could be replicated across the country,' said McCabe.
Shovels are expected to be in the ground by 2026. The goal is for it to be move-in ready sometime in 2027.
