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Affordable, transitional housing coming to East Gwillimbury, Georgina

Province invests $7.3M for affordable housing units at Blue Door Shelters, Sutton Youth Shelter

Yorkreigon.com
April 8, 2021
Amanda Persico

The province is investing in York Region’s transitional housing lot.

Through the social services relief fund, the province is providing $7.3 million to build 24 modular transitional housing units in East Gwillimbury and Georgina.

The 16 affordable housing units will be located at the Blue Door Shelters property and the eight Georgina units will be part of the Sutton Youth Shelter property managed by the Salvation Army. This also includes the four prefabricated modular units in Georgina announced last winter.

Both sites will be equipped with on-site wraparound services, such as housing support and counselling supports for those who are homeless or at risk of being homeless.

Affordable housing is a key priority for the region, said York Region Chairperson and CEO Wayne Emmerson.

“This isn’t new,” he said during a virtual press announcement. “The need remains high. And the COVID-19 pandemic only heightened the challenges. Supporting our most vulnerable creates stability in the community.”

About 15 per cent of the affordable housing units will be fully accessible, featuring exterior ramps, barrier-free showers and wheelchair accessible sinks.

"These units will provide a home for those who need it most along with access to critical services to help people work through their challenges with the support of compassionate professionals,” said York-Simcoe MPP Caroline Mulroney.

The prefabricated, modular units in Georgina will be part of the Georgina Trades Training Inc. Skilled Trades Institute program. The province invested about $4 million last summer into the specialty residential construction trades school.

The affordable units in East Gwillimbury will be a collection of two- or three-storey, multi-unit buildings.

Construction is scheduled to start later in the spring with the bulk of work to be completed by the end of 2021.

At the end of 2019, there were more than 17,000 households on the region’s affordable or transitional housing wait-list, with less than 300 households being housed each year.

There are more than 2,700 affordable apartments and townhouses across the region.

The region has received more than $32 million through the newly established provincial social services relief fund since March 2020, designed to help municipalities and Indigenous partners deliver critical services, such as shelters, food banks and housing, during the COVID-19 pandemic.