The Region of Waterloo, the YW of Kitchener-Waterloo and the City of Kitchener are excited to share the progress at 1470 Block Line in Kitchener. This affordable supportive housing project, funded earlier this year on land provided by the City of Kitchener, is being built at a rapid pace to be move in ready by early 2022.
As part of our affordable housing plan, Building Better Futures: 2,500 Homes in 5 Years, the YW Block Line Supportive Housing project will add 41new homes to The Region of Waterloo. These homes will come with built-in supports for residents, including case and crisis management, daily life skills, access to food bank services, and move-in-supports, ensuring they continue to get the help they need.
The new supportive housing units will provide homes for women experiencing or at risk of homelessness, reducing the number of people experiencing chronic homelessness in the Region.
Regional Council and the Government of Canada through the Rapid Housing Initiative announced this project, along with another affordable housing project, in December 2020 through an $8.2 million dollar investment. The City of Kitchener’s contribution of the one acre Block Line property is valued at $2.57 million.
This project will be ready for occupancy in under one year since construction began in March 2021.
Quotes
“The YW project at 1470 Block Line is another example of our tremendous community partners and our region’s continued focus on affordable and supportive housing. As the Region celebrates another project in our plan Building Better Futures: 2,500 Homes in 5 Years, we see the impact this has on our whole community as we work towards housing for all.”
- Regional Chair Karen Redman
"People who are 'chronically homeless' have been staying in shelters or on the street for at least six months of the past year, or at least eighteen months of the past three years. And that's the minimum. In many cases, the women who will be moving into YW Block Line Supportive Housing have been homeless for years. Our new program will end their homelessness, and the homelessness of almost half the women on Waterloo Region's supportive housing waitlist, giving them apartments to call their own and a community in which they can stabilize and flourish."
- Elizabeth Clarke, CEO of the YW Kitchener-Waterloo
“Safe and affordable housing is a human right,” said Kitchener Mayor, Berry Vrbanovic. “The Rapid Housing Initiative is a truly collaborative effort to build much-needed affordable housing. Women have been one of the most highly impacted groups of the COVID-19 pandemic, so the City of Kitchener is pleased to contribute our Block Line property toward this partnership with the YWCA as our first investment to support Kitchener Council’s Housing For All strategy.”
- Kitchener Mayor, Berry Vrbanovic