In response to the housing needs in the county, Huron County council recently asked its planning department to look into possible options for building affordable housing in the county.
Planning Manager Denise Van Amersfoort presented Huron County council with four options.
Council has asked that they investigate two of those options.
“And those options include a 39-unit apartment building, in Goderich, which would include ten supportive housing units and the second option is 10-unit supportive housing facility and that's a facility that would provide wrap-around support and help to provide housing for individuals currently experiencing homelessness,” said Van Amersfoort. “In the 39-unit apartment building that is proposed for Gibbons Street, there's a mix of supportive housing, rent-geared-to-income and then what we call affordable, which is 80 per cent of market rate. So all of the units in the building are a different level of affordability.”
Another report will be brought forward to council on July 27th and at that time it is expected council will decide how it wants to proceed as well as set a schedule for any construction.
Van Amersfoort adds they are also planning to apply, once again, for federal funding through the Rapid Housing Initiative for a project in Exeter.
She says they have applied twice and were not successful, but they're hoping they'll be successful in the next round.