New Southdale public housing project nearing completion
The Reimagine Southdale project is the first major upgrade to social housing in decades
In less than a year, about 150 people will move into a brand-new six-storey building on Southdale Road, the first major upgrade to public housing in decades.
The 53-unit building is in the final stages of being finished, with drywall up in many units and bathrooms roughed in. Windows have been installed and spaces that will house a community kitchen, event space and laundry rooms designated.
"Seeing it come together in a blue print is one thing, but walking the space and knowing that in the next six to eight months people will be living here, it's awesome," said Paul Chisholm, the CEO of London Middlesex Community Housing (LMCH), which broke ground on the project last year.
The ambitious construction project is Phase 1 of a three-phase redevelopment of the site, dubbed Reimagine Southdale. The new building will have one, two, three and four-bedroom units, some that are rent-geared-to-income and others affordable market rent. The 53 units replace 18 townhouses that date back to 1971.
"We've purposely made sure we have space that community partners that provide programming to our tenants can use. We have a communal kitchen and an open space for group programming, after-school programs, those kinds of things," Chisholm said.
In the past, programs have been run out of rental units, taking away from valuable housing stock. "During the original buildings of these buildings, in the 1970s, it wasn't even a consideration. Now, we can make sure that all of the units are occupied by families that need housing."
Some of the units will be rented at market-rent in an effort to help build up some money for upkeep of the buildings when they need it, and to create a mixed-income site, Chisholm said.
"By introducing affordable market rent, we bring in additional revenues to offset operating costs. It doesn't increase the operating burden on the city and their budget and the taxpayers."
"This is the first accessible family housing that we've built," said Scott Robertson, the construction project manager. "The design intent throughout the building was to use materials that are going to be long-lasting, hard surfaces for the building's longevity. We did a lot of the design with accessibility and energy efficiency in mind.
The building has lots of light for esthetic and security purposes, he added, and the units will include blinds so families don't have to buy their own. There's also air conditioning in each unit, he said.
"We're exceeding Ontario building code requirements for the number of accessible units, and the design elements within those units, such as accessible stoves," Robertson said.
Public housing buildings and townhouse complexes have been plagued by hard to conquer pests such as bed bugs and cockroaches, and Chisholm said staff will try to make sure they're not brought into the building.
"We're going to be monitoring that diligently at the beginning to make sure they don't really aggressively get into the building early on," he said.
The project will cost about $30 million. In total, the three phases will add 99 net new units to the Southdale complex. The site was chosen for redevelopment because it houses families and there was land that could be intensified.
"Southdale had the fewest barriers to moving forward. There are plans to widen Southdale Road and the community seemed better suited for intensification," Chisholm said.
Tenants who lived in the townhouses that were demolished were moved to other locations, and have been given a chance to return to the newly-built building, though none have chosen to do so, he added.
The townhouse units that remain at Southdale have gotten facelifts, and the site will get a full-sized basketball court and another playground.
"We're looking at increasing the number of people and we want to make sure that everyone is getting a benefit from the work that we're doing," Chisholm said.
Pam Cullen, who heads the London Community Chaplaincy, which runs programs and offers support to tenants at Southdale and the Limberlost housing complex in northwest London, said she is looking forward to seeing how the redevelopment progresses.
"In every change there are winners and losers," she said. "The chaplaincy will always partner and build community with the tenants that we serve. We're here with them through every transition."
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