United Way Perth Huron's United Housing organization held a morning open house in downtown Listowel on October 8.
The purpose was to bring some community and business leaders together to get informed on the housing project that United Housing has planned for downtown Listowel.
Kathy Vassilakos, Director of United Housing, says there are two main commercial units on Main Street that will remain, but above them, there is a space that United Housing will utilize.
"It provides us with enough space to retrofit in, right now the goal is 10 housing units in there, 10 rental housing units. United Housing has a strategic plan, and our plan is centred around mixed-income housing," Vassilakos explained.
The types of units available would cover multiple levels of income to ensure that many different types of people could access vitally needed housing solutions in the area.
"So we would have a third of the units deeply affordable, a third workforce or attainable housing which is still below market but less than market, and then a third of the units that would be market housing rental units, and we feel that's a really good mix," added Vassilakos.
The total project cost is set for $2.5 million, and right now United Housing is canvassing to get local partners to buy into the project. The organization estimates that the public fundraising portion would likely be looking to raise $500,000 to $600,000 with units ready to rent by late next year or early 2026.
Vassilakos says the project will bring many benefits, including to United Housing itself.
"It helps with cashflow. My joke is United Housing is a not-for-profit but that doesn't mean we can LOSE money. We wanna be able to reinvest in the community and do more building, but at the same time, it's also not a good idea to silo people and that mixed income model works really well for other not-for-profit housing providers," Vassilakos pointed out.
Additionally, Vassilakos notes that this project is beneficial because it's infill, and they don't have to build something that takes up any more land, particularly farmland, to make it happen. They're simply utilizing long unused space that can accommodate a project like this.
Also, Vassilakos says that they wanted to get ahead of any rumours about what they were planning and directly share with the business community and local political leaders what they have planned.
More information on United Housing can be found on Pert Huron Unite Way website. A dedicated page can be found here: https://perthhuron.unitedway.ca/unitedhousing/.