Ground broke recently on a new housing project in Listowel aiming to bring hundreds of affordable and attainable units to the area.
The Listowel Gardens project officially broke ground on April 24 as members of council and staff in North Perth were on-hand for the ceremony. Lindsay Cline, Interim Manager of Strategic Initiatives with North Perth, says the project will be bringing a mix of affordable and attainable housing to the area.
"It's a mixed use development that's going in at the corner of Twamley Street and Mitchell Road South (Highway 23) right across from the Zehrs Plaza. So there'll be two residential apartment buildings, as well as a kind of central amenities area for residents and members of the public," Cline said excitedly.
The project will be done in 3 phases, with the first phase to be completed by next year. Listowel Gardens will feature 178 one and two-bedroom suites, and Cline notes that the developers have committed to making the project cost friendly for potential new residents.
"The developers committed to providing a significant portion of the units to be affordable or attainable, so that will be 74 percent of the new apartment units will meet the criteria to be designated as affordable or attainable. Which is really exciting and really needed for our community," added Cline.
Cline notes that the project is the first to utilize the municipality’s Attainable Housing Community Improvement Plan, adopted in August 2024. That plan aims to "minimize financial barriers to the creation of affordable and attainable housing," according to a media release from North Perth.
With housing a constant topic of debate across the country, Cline says this project and others like it will be critical for continued growth in the community and the local business sector.
"We want people to move here, we need people to work in many of the industries in North Perth and one of the barriers to employment is finding housing, especially affordable housing, and we think this project will be a big step in helping to address that," Cline concluded.
Objectives of the North Perth Attainable Housing Community Improvement Plan include "reducing the number of vacant or under-utilized buildings, increasing the inventory of attainable housing, and encouraging a range of affordable units from deeply affordable to close-to-market. Through targeted incentives, the CIP reduces financial barriers for developers while promoting long-term community benefits," the media release from North Perth stated.
"This project marks a milestone in the Municipality of North Perth’s journey to address one of the most pressing challenges of our time – housing. We are not immune to the nationwide housing pressures that communities across Canada are grappling with. Housing availability and affordability have been stretched thin, especially for the working people who form the backbone of our agricultural, industrial, and commercial sectors," said North Perth Mayor Todd Kasenberg.
To learn more about the Community Improvement Plan and how it aims to support local development, visit the Municipality of North Perth’s website at www.northperth.ca.