Anglican Diocese of Ottawa creating affordable housing in Bells Corners, eyeing other church sites
Hollyer House, as the four-storey mixed-use building has been named, will be home to 35 residential units.
Taylor Blewett, Ottawa Citizen
Jun 06, 2022 • 55 minutes ago • 2 minute read
It’s the kind of residential intensification people line up to celebrate, and that Ottawans in need of affordable housing outside the core of the city are desperate for.
At a site in Bells Corners that used to host a two-storey rectory, politicians and Anglican Diocese of Ottawa officials gathered Monday to celebrate the approaching completion of an affordable housing project.
Hollyer House, as the four-storey mixed-use building has been named, will be home to 35 residential units, as well as a community room, food cupboard and operating space for the Western Ottawa Community Resource Centre, which had offices in the rectory before its demolition.
Ten of the rental units will be reserved for women transitioning out of shelter with local providers Cornerstone and Chrysalis House. The remainder will be below-market-rent units, geared towards those on the city’s waitlist for social housing — including, potentially, a few dedicated units for families transitioning out of emergency shelter — and average-market-rent units, which applications are expected to open for this summer.
“There’s diversity, in lots of good ways,” said the Right Rev. Shane Parker, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa, of the community that mixed-affordability projects such as this are intended to create.
Project partner Christ Church Bells Corners is located next door to the development, and its rector, the Venerable Kathryn Otley, said her parishioners “are really excited about people moving in and what they can do to support them.”
Religious affiliation will have no bearing on who’s eligible to live at Hollyer House, she said, and tenant selection will be arm’s-length. But given the level of demand for affordable housing, not least that outside the city’s core, there will be many people that Hollyer House is unable to help.
“I’ve been fielding calls for the last two years … hundreds of calls of people who are desperate,” said Otley.
While the project’s planned completion this fall will address just a fraction of the need, it’s part of a larger movement by faith groups in Canada to transform or build on their real estate assets to create affordable housing.
Rev. Canon PJ Hobbs, director general of community ministries for the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa, said they’re currently considering an affordable housing project on the grounds of Julian of Norwich Anglican Church on Merivale Road in partnership with the Multifaith Housing Initiative, as well as an addition to double the number of units at Ellwood House in Alta Vista.
At Monday’s announcement, which highlighted the federal and municipal financial support for the Hollyer House project, Housing Minister Ahmed Hussen said he’s been telling more faith organizations “there’s a place for you in the National Housing Strategy if you would like to partner with us to leverage a lot of the real estate that you have and turn it into affordable housing.”
He is, however, facing pressure to bring more dollars that don’t require repayment to that partnership.
A portion of the more than $6.6-million federal investment in Hollyer House is a forgivable loan. Funding like this is invaluable for affordable housing developments by not-for-profit entities, said Parker.
“Loans are problematic because somehow you have to factor that into the overall math. … Grants are what’s needed.”
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