Inaccurate data makes it 'impossible' to build affordable housing, rural county says
CBC
Ken How is trying to turn an abandoned rural Ontario school into affordable housing — a difficult task made harder, he says, by inaccurate rental data that puts federal funding out of reach.
"It's like you're swimming upstream — all the time," he said.
The retired elementary school teacher turned non-profit housing developer supervises a small team of volunteers undertaking the ambitious conversion.
Their vision is to breathe new life into the former Pinecrest Public School near the centre of Prince Edward County, a mostly rural municipality jutting into Lake Ontario about an hour's drive west of Kingston.
How's goal is to turn it into an affordable housing complex and community hub for low-income seniors, complete with a medical office, gym and dedicated space for crafts.
He said the project is a direct response to a dire need in the aging community, where affordable apartments for seniors are now in higher demand than classrooms.
"People just can't afford to live here, so they buy a bus ticket and they leave," How said.
His non-profit, Pinecrest Housing, purchased the building alongside 20 acres of surrounding land in the Bloomfield area for about $400,000, or less than it would cost to buy a lot in the county hub of Picton, he said.
Now, they're in search of funding to transform it.
Pinecrest Housing has raised more than a million dollars, so far but the conversion will cost millions more.
How said efforts to secure a loan from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) have turned his once-brown hair grey.
"I thought CMHC is there to help us, and they want to make affordable housing," How said. "What a knucklehead."
An ongoing issue throughout years of the application process, he said, has been the way the Crown corporation calculates affordable rent as it delivers federal housing programs.
Pinecrest Housing plans to squeeze 56 units into the school's sprawling footprint, charging affordable rent for half and market rent for the rest.
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