The District of Muskoka is considering decommissioning 36 affordable housing units in Gravenhurst and Huntsville that are considered uninhabitable.
During a Sept. 15 Committee of the Whole meeting, Kevin Boyle, manager of capital projects, presented a report to council recommending the decommissioning and redevelopment of 14 housing units on Pinedale Road in Gravenhurst and 22 housing units on Meadow Park Drive in Huntsville.
“The particular units that we’re talking about now at Pinedale and Meadow Park are among the oldest in our stock. Many of the other buildings are a different built form that has a greater resiliency to environmental impacts,” said Boyle.
The report states that water infiltration and structural damage of the units worsened significantly during the past winter, rendering some of the units uninhabitable.
“The condition of these 1970 area units are declining at a significant rate, requiring extensive rehabilitation expenses estimated to be greater than half the cost of complete replacement,” said Boyle. “Any rehabilitation work will require remediation of designated substances, along with significant structural issues that add cost and time required to restore the units.”
Boyle told council that redeveloping these properties will maintain their location, increase the affordable housing stock, and support higher-density development with modern, efficient, climate-friendly, and accessible options.
The report recommends removing the 14 existing units on Pinedale Road and replacing them with a proposed 34-unit, 3-storey apartment building. On Meadow Park Drive, it recommends removing the 22 aging units while retaining 28 in fair condition to allow for the construction of a new 44-unit, 3-storey apartment building.
“Mitigating the impact on existing tenants and ensuring they’re able to be housed sustainably through any sort of redevelopment is going to be a challenge,” said Boyle.
According to the report, the two sites have a total estimated cost of $31.6 million for 78 units, or approximately $405,000 per unit, including the expenses of relocating residents.
Boyle said they are looking at a variety of options for relocating the tenants, including rent supplements for the private market, portable housing benefits, and appropriately sized units that become available in their community or affordable housing buildings.
“There’s no consideration of utilizing hotels at this point in time,” said Boyle.
Staff is expected to return next month with a more detailed capital plan and funding strategy.
“We hear committee of the whole, and we hear the concern for the tenants, and we also hear that you’d like to consider alternative ideas. So, if we need to, we’ll take the extra month to get it right, and we’ll figure out a way to bring it either directly to council or back to the super committee structure in the next council round,” said staff.
