Allumette Island is celebrating a win after new money was released for an affordable housing complex in Chapeau’s lower town, which the municipality hopes can start construction sometime in the next year.
Federal and provincial governments announced last week that the 24 units would be one of 11 projects to receive money as part of Quebec’s affordable housing program (PHAQ).
The buildings will be located on a parcel of land near Centennial Street and Rochon Street in the lower town of Chapeau. They will be owned and managed by non-profit organization l’Office d’habitation de l’Outaouais (OHO).
Allumette Island director general Alicia Jones said discussions began with the OHO this spring to bring this project to the island.
“We had to agree to give certain things in order for [the project] to be eligible,” she said. “One of them was the donation of the land because we own the land where it’s proposed to be built [ . . . ] and to run a water and sewer network to the building.”
Antoine Bélanger-Rannou, who works in real estate development with the OHO, said his organization saw an opportunity to expand its offerings outside the Gatineau city core.
“It’s not just in the cities that we have a housing crisis right now, there are also rural areas,” he said.
The OHO will be required to limit rent amounts, according to rates the provincial program determines. Bélanger-Rannou said base rents are $603 a month for a one-bedroom, $744 for a two-bedroom, and $821 for a three-bedroom, plus a yearly cap set by the program.
Jones said a study conducted by the municipality this winter for the program helped to get a better picture of its residents’ housing needs, including a need for affordable housing.
“We learned that there is a big housing need in the area, and it was a lot of seniors,” she said.
Winston Sunstrum, manager of Chapeau’s senior housing complex Résidence Meilleur, said the facility currently has a waitlist of 32 people and he expects affordable units will draw interest from some of them.
“The aging population is looking to downsize from their primary homes, and that bears out today in terms of people that I talked to who are looking towards that in the next few years,” he said.
Bélanger-Rannou said while the exact size of the units is still to be determined, his organization will work with the Société d’habitation du Québec to choose a prefabricated building that best fits the community’s needs.
“What we’re doing right now is to define a little bit about the design of the building. So the design phase, what type of unit, the size of the building, the size of the units [ . . . ] that’s really where we’re at,” he said.
Jones said they cannot break ground on the project until the municipality extends the existing water and sewer network to reach the site. Currently, the municipality is waiting on an application to the Community Housing Infrastructure Fund (CHIF) for the $1 million required to do the work.
“They’ve already done all the environmental studies, the geotechnical studies, the engineering. We’re ready to go, we just need the money,” she said.
