After pandemic-related and unforeseen delays the project has successfully overcome a series of hurdles.

Negotiations with the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa and St. Thomas the Apostle parish for a long-term (55-year) lease have been completed. The lease has been approved by a special St. Thomas vestry meeting and the diocese and submitted to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

CMHC has to approve the lease as a condition for the mortgage funding for which Ellwood has applied. This will complete governmental support, with a shortfall to be covered by a capital fundraising campaign.

Earlier, Ellwood secured $9.5 million in capital funding, originally through CMHC’s Housing Accelerator Fund. However, the funds are administered by the city and the city decided to finance it from the Ontario Building Faster Fund as advertised on the “sign of progress.”

“The city has given us so much help, support and advice,” Janice Horton, president of the Ellwood board says. “It is really involved in this and other housing projects.”

The support includes additional $372,000 in pre-development funding, allowing for the completion of architectural drawings, finalization and submitting the application for a building permit.

Looking ahead, following demolition of the old rectory, existing utility connections will be upgraded as required by the site plan to correct deficiencies and expand services for the entire campus. It’s detailed work that will take months to complete, but it will be a visible sign of continuing progress.

The extension, intended to help meet ever-growing demand, will more than double the capacity of Ellwood House which has provided safe and affordable housing for seniors since 1987.

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Plans to more than double the capacity of Ellwood House, the affordable housing residence for seniors in Alta Vista, have entered the home stretch with the City of Ottawa’s approval of its Delegation of Authority report (DAR).

“The report is a significant milestone,” Janice Horton says. She is chair of Ellwood’s board of directors who have been working with St Thomas the Apostle parish, the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa and the City of Ottawa for four years to make a vision a reality. “It means the City has considered our site plan application and has given the go-ahead to work out the conditions of our site plan agreement.”

The Ontario Planning Act allows municipalities to delegate decisions such as approval of site plans to staff in the interests of speeding up the approval process.

City Councillor Marty Carr has signed off on the site plan agreement, leaving the parish and the diocese to complete the process that is expected within weeks.

The directors are now seeking funding—likely close to $300,000—to complete architectural and planning work for building permits.  For guidance on funding sources, they turn to Cahdco, their project management team. Cahdco, the affordable housing developer and project consulting firm, has been instrumental in moving the project forward.

Horton emphasises that with Cahdco’s help, Ellwood, the parish and the diocese have enjoyed a close and beneficial working relationship to overcome complications and delays. “The parish and the church have been very supportive,” she says. “They started back in the mid-‘80s when low-income housing was little more than a catch-phrase.”

Ellwood House opened in 1989 with 30 units. The extension will add 38 new accessible one-bedroom apartments for seniors and an expanded patio and lounge as well as more parking and landscaping features. Colizza-Bruni Architecture, designers of the original award-winning building, are doing the extension.

Experience has shown that unexpected issues causing delay are part and parcel of affordable housing development. One such issue for Ellwood came as a result of a sensible decision to seek a zoning amendment, bringing two properties—the former rectory and the Ellwood House property—into one site.

This provided for one campus, allowing for improvements and alterations throughout. It also led to a lot of questions and testing by the City. An old oil tank, left over from years ago when a switch to gas heating was made, had to be remediated, slowing down the process.

The former rectory will soon be removed to make way for construction of the new building. The rectory itself has itself provided low-rental housing to one family for many years.

Pre-development funding to date has come from the City of Ottawa, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa.

Capital financing is being sought from the City, CMHC and the Province of Ontario. In addition, hopes are high that a capital fundraising campaign, with a probable goal of $1 million, can be launched by the end of this year.

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