New housing project offers affordable housing for seniors in Pincourt
Construction is underway on a new 80-unit co-operative residential project that will provide affordable housing for semi-independent seniors in Pincourt.
The $18-million Coopérative de solidarité du Bel Âge de Pincourt will include 60 one-bedroom units and 20 two-bedroom units, and will be constructed at the southwest edge of Pincourt at the border of the town of Île-Perrot. It will be built on a new street, to be called Rue de la Coopérative, near Ch. Pointe aux Renards. The official opening is expected in the fall of 2019.
Pincourt town manager Michel Perrier said although the average age of the population of Pincourt and Île-Perrot is only around 40 years old, and 20 per cent of the population is under the age of 14, there is also a clear need for housing and resources for seniors who want to remain in the community near their children, grandchildren and friends.
“It’s a young community but still you have to consider that there’s a need for senior citizens to be able to remain in their community. Even if they’re still mobile and in relatively good health, not all of them have the strength and the energy to keep a house and maintain it,” he said.
KEEP COSTS DOWN
Perrier noted that this will be the first senior’s housing co-operative to be built on the island of Île-Perrot. Unlike a typical rental building with a landlord, tenants in a housing co-operative all contribute to the maintenance and administration of the complex to keep costs down.
Tenants in the building will also benefit from the Société d’habitation du Québec’s (SHQ) Rent Supplement Program, which
provides subsidies to ensure residents won’t spend more than 25 per cent of their income on housing. The subsidy is estimated at $1.4 million over five years.
Perrier said the project has been a long time in development. It was initiated by a group of citizens over a decade ago and was accepted by the town in 2008. The project will be built on a 17,365 square metre parcel of land donated by the city in 2013, which Perrier said is valued at approximately $300,000.
“We gave our support to the organization from day one, and we’re quite happy that finally this project is breaking ground and will open within the next year or so,” he said. “We’re pretty ecstatic about it, especially for the elderly in the region.”
A groundbreaking ceremony was held May 28, with representatives from the municipal, provincial and federal government. All three levels of government are contributing funds to build the project.
Through the Investment in Affordable Housing Agreement, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and SHQ are providing nearly $5 million. Another $1.8 million is coming from the Town of Pincourt, which will be repaid by the Montreal Metropolitan Community through its social housing fund.
The project is also benefiting from CMHC’s Seed Funding program, which included a $5,000 contribution and a $10,000 interest-free loan, and a $160,000 grant from Transition énergétique Québec to ensure the building will meet Novoclimat certification standards.