Housing being added at Mount
Construction increases affordable units in place at community facility
Construction is underway at The Mount Community Centre to make way for new accommodations that will see an additional five housing units being added to the already 63 units in the centre.
The city in 2014 committed to building 500 affordable rental units over a 10-year period and since then the need for more affordable housing has grown.
The board of the Mount, located in the former Sisters of St. Joseph convent on Monaghan Road, agreed to contribute to the increasing number to help people to be able to afford a place to live in safety and comfort.
“Through funding from the City of Peterborough, we can convert more spaces into affordable apartments for people who need them,” said Andi van Koeverden, the centre’s director of strategic advancement.
“These five units are made possible by funds from the city that were announced last week, which was $377,000, plus some other incentives to get these five units built.”
The Mount has an agreement with the city to provide 65 units at affordable rental rates, she said.
“Two of these will fulfil our commitment,” she said. “The balance of the units built here could be rented out at market rent rate.
“We are currently looking into the possibility of life-leasing at the Mount Community Centre and the balance of our units could be at affordable rents or a combination of all three.”
Life-leasing is an option similar to purchasing a condominium, but it is not a condominium.
“People who enter into a lifelease agreement or purchase a life lease at The Mount Com
munity Centre own that unit for 49 years,” Van Koeverden said.
“They would have ownership of that life lease and if a situation changed or they had to go into a retirement residence setting they could sell the lease, they could give it to a child or a loved one.”
The units now under construction will vary in size with two-bedroom and three-bedroom units, she said.
“We have a diverse mix of unit sizes, types and rents. These next five units are going to be a three-bedroom and four twobedrooms,” Van Koeverden said.
Since people wait a long time for an affordable housing unit, she said, some units could be used to house senior citizens, while others might serve to house young adults who are not interested in acquiring property or possibly don’t qualify for a mortgage.
“We are not your typical landlord,” she said. “We are not your typical place to live. It is a very supportive environment.”