Affordable housing provides new homes and new hope

Employees help make it happen

PSPC's real property teams are dedicated to managing federal buildings across the country. Altaf Patel, Real Estate Services Manager in the Ontario Region, explains: "My team's mandate is office accommodation. So when there is no longer a federal need for a building under our mandate, that's when we deem it surplus and dispose of it."

Also from the Ontario Region, Grace Ponniah, in the role of Senior Real Estate Advisor, focuses specifically on building disposals. She was assigned to work on the disposal of the property in Belleville. Before a building can be put on the list of disposals, Ponniah has a lot of work to do. She explains, "We have a list of due diligence activities that we must complete." This includes:

• an appraisal for the property value
• a survey plan and legal description of the property
• a title search (to make sure there are no Indigenous claims or treaties or other claims, such as an easement by the service provider)
• encroachment checks (to make sure the title is clear)
• an environmental site assessment (to ensure there are no contaminants and to review structural issues)

Once all this is done, the building is offered to other levels of government and Indigenous groups. In the case of the Belleville property, it was transferred to the FLI, which was successful in finding a proponent.

The Federal Land Initiative's guiding hand

The FLI doesn't accept just any property. To qualify under the FLI, the building has to be close to neighbourhood amenities such as transportation, schools and parks . The property in Belleville was in a perfect location. The team's initial evaluation noted that it was a good candidate for conversion into affordable housing. It was then advertised on the FLI website to seek requests for proposals to redevelop the building for housing.

The redevelopment of the Belleville property was awarded to the Belleville Affordable Housing GP Corporation. It's the general partner for Belleville Affordable Housing Limited Partnership, which is also associated with Summers and Co. Developments Incorporated, as well as First Nation partners, Missanabie Cree First Nation, Garden River First Nation and Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte. The FLI worked with the team of developers to improve and modify the plans to ensure the facility provided affordable housing, as well as being accessible and energy efficient. As such, of the 38 units, 19 are affordable, 8 of which are fully accessible.

The partnership will continue

Part of the development plan includes affordable housing, and the project was given funds to help with the transfer of government surplus properties at discounted to no-cost rates. PSPC hopes to continue to provide suitable buildings that can be turned into affordable housing. Ponniah says, "I am looking forward to sharing more properties with the FLI as they become available, to enable CMHC to support affordable housing initiatives and address the housing shortage nationally."

Last April, as part of Budget 2024, the Government of Canada announced the new Public Lands for Homes Plan. Through this plan, the federal government will lead efforts and partner with homebuilders and housing providers to build more affordable homes faster on surplus, underused or vacant federal, provincial, territorial and municipal public lands across the country.