199 Westcourt Boulevard, Wallaceburg Affordable Housing Development

Across the street from the Municipality of Chatham-Kent-owned existing Westcourt Villa Housing property, there is a vacant piece of Municipality of Chatham-Kent-owned land that would be an ideal location for a large affordable/market rent mixed housing development.

Administration recommends developing an affordable/market rent mixed housing development on this unused vacant land.

This concept has the advantage of allowing older families and "baby boomers" to age in place as unit size needs change when children leave and adults move into a senior cohort. This also provides a wide range of social and health benefits through intergenerational interaction and assistance. This development allows Chatham-Kent to develop a project that will be a benefit for all cohorts on the Centralized Waitlist.

Municipal departments are working on this project together on ways to utilize this land to provide much needed affordable housing units and for how the balance of any unused portions of the land could be used to provide other amenities, such as a park to the community.

On August 12, 2024, Council approved administrations recommendations in the detailed report titled Affordable Housing Build 199 Westcourt Blvd. Wallaceburg ON - RFP for Design and Construction Tender. These recommendations included authorization to proceed with the full design for a 72-unit affordable housing development on the 199 Westcourt Boulevard, Wallaceburg vacant municipally owned land.

This five-storey Community Housing building containing 37 one-bedroom, 25 two-bedroom units, 5 three-bedroom units and 5 four-bedroom units, will be a mixture of affordable, deeply affordable and attainable market rents. This energy efficient and accessible building is designed meet both the community needs and to be eligible for upper-level government funding programs such as Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) program guidelines. Each floor will have a common shared terrace and the building contains two elevators. The building will feature a common room that will help tenants access rotating community programming and provide the opportunity to engage with other tenants and build a sense of community at the building. There will be an office available for the use of Tenant Relations Case Managers and their in-situ clients. The building offers 1.5 parking spaces/unit and features laundry rooms on each floor. The building is an appropriate distance from Wallaceburg’s downtown core and close to community transportation, schools, and a grocery store.

The full design process is underway and if the project is approved for construction then further project updates will be provided below.

Conceptual drawings below: