Hamilton affordable housing renovation project secures $10M from national housing strategy

Globalnews.ca
May 22, 2019
Ken Mann

A $21-million renovation is underway near Hamilton’s West Harbour that will return 146 units to the city’s affordable housing inventory.

Liberal MP Adam Vaughan confirms that $10 million -- almost half of the funding for the restoration of a vacant residential tower at 500 MacNab St. N. -- comes from the national housing strategy.

Vaughan, who is parliamentary secretary to Canada’s minister of families, children and social development, was in Hamilton to tour the building on Tuesday afternoon.

He says it’s the type of project aimed at “reclaiming old 1960s and 1970s buildings, which were built when energy was very, very cheap” that will be a “defining component” of the federal housing strategy.

Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger says reduced energy costs are central to the project and driving affordability, which will result in rents that are 80 per cent of normal market rental costs.

The renovations are expected to be complete by the fall of 2020, and the building will re-emerge as purpose-built affordable housing for seniors.

CityHousing Hamilton CEO Tom Hunter stresses that the project is not about gentrification but rather “the preservation of deep affordability.”

Hunter predicts 500 MacNab St. N. will become “a flagship for affordable housing in our community.”