The Ottawa City Council approved the Section 37 Guidelines 2017 Report recommended by Planning Committee on May 24, the result of a five year review of the city’s implementation of Section 37. In the Ontario Planning Act, Section 37 can be used by municipalities to obtain community benefits in return for a Zoning By-law Amendment. The policy […]
I had the opportunity to attend an affordable and accessible housing event at the Gatineau City Hall the morning of May 4th: “Bâtir notre avenir: tendance et enjeu du logement abordable dans le Région de Gatineau et Ottawa”. The event was organized and hosted by CMHC in partnership with the Ville de Gatineau, and sought […]
On April 20th, Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development and Minister Responsible for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) announced the creation of the CMHC Rental Construction Financing initiative. This initiative will provide $2.5 billion in low-cost construction loans over four years to encourage the construction of new rental housing. This program […]
Many readers will be surprised to learn that in the 1980’s and early 1990’s the City of Ottawa provided land to create affordable housing. Land was purchased and surplus city land set aside and held in an affordable housing land bank. The City’s Housing Branch worked with provincial Ministry of Housing officials and local not-for-profit […]
On May 18, 2016, Bill 204, the Promoting Affordable Housing Act, 2016 passed First Reading in the Ontario legislature. If the bill receives Royal Assent, it will allow municipalities to require private sector developers to include affordable housing units in their development proposals through inclusionary zoning (IZ). Simply put, IZ policies require or encourage new […]
On September 16, 2016, I had the opportunity to attend an exciting sector event that took place at the Beaver Barracks in Ottawa. Housing Services Corporation (HSC) hosted a SHARE Innovation Event, “Affordable Housing Development: Built Form, Design and Partnerships”. What is SHARE? It is the Sustainable Housing Asset Resource Exchange, an initiative led by […]
Ottawa Salus Corporation is making encouraging and innovative advancements in the fields of low carbon building and supportive housing. Through an integrated design process in 2010, the decision to design, develop and build a prototype building with both LEED Platinum and Passive House Certification was made, and a collaborative, exciting project was shaped. Simply put, […]
My two previous blogs about municipal tools to create social facilities compared Vancouver’s municipal governance structure to Ottawa’s, reviewed what social facilities Vancouver has achieved and outlined some of the tools Vancouver uses to achieve these facilities. So what does this mean for Ottawa? Municipalities in Canada only have a limited set of powers; they […]
Let’s start with the premise that we are all creative. Whether you’re an economist, baker or athlete, we all use some creativity in our day to day lives. It actually doesn’t matter if you got a D+ in art class or didn’t make the cut for the high school play. Creativity is a doorway to […]
In rapidly growing cities, housing markets can intensify affordability issues, particularly for individuals and families living on low incomes. Redevelopment, infill and intensification, particularly in the form of upscale medium and high rise condominiums, can involve the demolition or conversion of existing affordable rental stock and drive up land and property values, placing upward pressure […]
A Necessary Collective Shift Mid-November of 2015, I attended a talk with Dan Pallotta hosted by Carleton University Students Association and the Student Philanthropy Council. Dan Pallotta’s[1] basic message is that the double standards that exist for the non-profit/charitable sector and for-profit businesses are affecting the abilities of the sector to make the big impact […]
Community opposition to affordable housing is often organized around a short-list of fears – property values will fall, crime will go up, traffic congestion and noise will worsen and the overall desirability of the neighbourhood will decline. The debate over whether or not new affordable housing impacts property values is not new. Research dates back […]
The Context for Affordable Housing We are hearing a lot about affordable housing in the news and on the streets. Communities all over Canada have prioritized the need to address what many are calling a crisis in the lack of affordable housing. In Ottawa, Broadening the Base (BtB) is exploring ways to bring new and […]
Originally posted on ccochousing.org. As Development Manager at CCOC, I also serve as the president of our sister corporation Cahdco. First created by CCOC in 1996, following the provincial government’s withdrawal from investing in affordable housing, Cahdco works with both CCOC and a variety of other clients to create new and innovative spaces of social […]
Taplen Construction Time Lapse of Salus Clementine Passive House Roughly defined, Passive House is a building design certification that consumes very little energy to operate, promotes a reduction in carbon emissions and ultimately results in an occupant’s improved comfort. This energy efficient building certification ensures the design has achieved a very high level of air-tightness […]
Biomimicry brings together nature and technology in an exciting blend of human ingenuity and observation of nature. Biomimicry is a practice that invites us to value what nature can show us and apply it to our own design problems. Nature has about 3.8 billion years of research and development, so if we wish to live […]
Last November, Ottawa lost a great champion of non-profit sector when Phil Brown passed away. While not all readers will know of Phil from his work as a development project manager to the not-for-profit sector, many who live in non-profit or co-op housing and anyone who has entered a community health centre in eastern Ontario […]
Here are five planning policies with the potential to enable more affordable non-profit and private market rental housing: 1. Expediting the Approval Process Fast-tracked or expedited approvals prioritize applications for affordable housing development, allowing them to essentially “jump the queue” at City Hall. The goal is to reduce the schedule, costs and associated risks that accompany […]
CCOC and Cahdco are proud to announce that we are two of the component development partners in RendezVous LeBreton Group’s bid to the National Capital Commission for the redevelopment of LeBreton Flats. With our history as recognized leaders in affordable rental housing and our commitment to the Centretown, LeBreton Flats, Hintonburg and Dalhousie neighbourhoods, we think we’re the natural choices to […]
Achieving Social Assets in Vancouver In my first post about municipal tools to create social assets, I compared Vancouver’s municipal governance structure to Ottawa’s and reviewed Vancouver’s substantial achievements in creating social assets. This post will outline some of the tools Vancouver uses to achieve these facilities and provide some project examples. Planning ToolsVancouver has […]
“A house is made of walls and beams. A home is made of love and dreams.” Do you believe that a home is more than four walls and a roof? I believe that home is where the heart is, where the seeds of our dreams take root while we sleep. Cahdco has been working as development […]
“You can’t cross a chasm in two hops.” I’ve seen that quote attributed to a few people. It’s posted on the cork board above my desk. It’s a good reminder for mission-driven organizations like CCOC and our sister corporation Cahdco: there’s a big need out there and we aren’t going to get anywhere with small […]
CCOC completed construction of the Beaver Barracks project in the summer of 2012. At 254 units in five buildings it was the largest project we’ve ever undertaken, and it came in on time and on budget. Mixed with the feelings of pride and satisfaction of completing the award-winning flagship project was a tinge of bereavement. […]
This past spring, Cahdco and Carleton University initiated a research partnership to examine the relationship between Ottawa’s planning policies and local housing affordability. With funding from a Mitacs Accelerate Grant, in which Cahdco serves as both industry partner and co-funder, this research project seeks to determine the extent and ways in which Ottawa’s planning and […]
This is part one of a three-part post about using municipal tools to create social assets. This first part reviews what Vancouver has achieved and compares Vancouver’s municipal governance structure to Ottawa’s. The second part will provide a detailed look at Vancouver’s achievements in creating social assets. Part three will look at some of the […]
101 Catherine St. CCOC Beaver Barracks, Ottawa
Sister corporation to CCOC