How to make housing affordable (The Toronto Star) - The Diigo Meta page

• 21 Jan 08
  

  Yule Heibel

  "By relying on donations from suppliers, a Brampton developer has managed to build high-quality abodes for low-income families.
  (...)
  When the 16-storey "Chapelview" project, on John St. in downtown Brampton, is finished next year, it will provide 200 apartments for seniors and low-income singles as well as people with disabilities, and if all goes according to plan, it will earn LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.
  
  If he's successful, D'Angelo believes the Chapelview project, which includes a six-storey garage for municipal and tenant parking, will be the first high-rise social-housing project in North America to receive the LEED platinum rating, the highest benchmark for green building and design."
  
  And then you wonder why this can't be done in more cities across Canada...?

  affordability canada cities development socialjustice toronto

  • When the 16-storey "Chapelview" project, on John St. in downtown Brampton, is finished next year, it will provide 200 apartments for seniors and low-income singles as well as people with disabilities, and if all goes according to plan, it will earn LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.

    If he's successful, D'Angelo believes the Chapelview project, which includes a six-storey garage for municipal and tenant parking, will be the first high-rise social-housing project in North America to receive the LEED platinum rating, the highest benchmark for green building and design.

    "He's really shooting for the moon here," says Stephen Kemp of Enermodal Engineering, a sustainable-building consulting firm. "For affordable housing, it's amazing."

    Just as he has done on previous housing projects, Woodbridge resident D'Angelo, 53, will ensure the cupboards are stocked with donated food when the tenants move in, and each will be given a quart of paint and a brush for future touch-ups.

    D'Angelo's overall mission is to create non-profit housing of quality and comfort, with better-than-basic finishings and appliances. To achieve that end, he persuades corporate sponsors and construction trades to donate upgrades or cash. So far D'Angelo's been promised $800,000 in upgrades and donations for Chapelview and is shooting for his goal of $3.2 million.

    • 

      Yule Heibel on 2008-01-21

      - amazing! Simple, but brilliant and amazing.
  • Future tenants will also have better air quality, since each apartment will be fitted with its own ventilation system, and doorways will be weatherstripped so smoke and other odours don't penetrate the hallways. Carpeting and wood flooring that out-gas minimally will be used throughout, and the appliances will be energy-efficient, as will the plumbing.
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  • • Meanwhile, the building's design and materials were chosen with sustainability in mind. The steel used in construction is recycled, and the concrete and drywall have recycled content. The accessible green roof and landscaping will be drought resistant, says Kemp, so they won't need to be fertilized and irrigated.

      D'Angelo is also aiming for universal accessibility in the design, which will allow people with disabilities to live in any apartment.

    • Chapelview is expected to cost about $37 million, with $11 million from the feds and the province, $8.5 from the city of Brampton and about $18 million from Peel Region.

      • 

        Yule Heibel on 2008-01-21

        - interesting -- how does one leverage that kind of funding ...here, in CANADA, land of perpetual senior-level-of-government meanness?

    • Peel Living, the region's non-profit housing company, estimates total building costs will be $2 million less than expected market costs for a comparable structure – because of D'Angelo's fundraising efforts and the efficiencies that come from his past experience.

      This isn't the first time that D'Angelo, a partner in Martinway Contracting Ltd., has broken new ground in affordable housing. He won an award from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. in 2004 for Millbrook Place, a 163-unit building in Mississauga that houses seniors in one- and two-bedroom apartments in one section of the building and singles, including the formerly homeless and people with mental illness, in furnished bachelors in another section.

    • "That kicked off our getting back into the social-housing game," says Keith Ward, general manager of Peel Living and commissioner of human services. "We kept waiting for the government to announce more funding. It didn't happen. Now we hope there are more builders motivated by that sense of altruism."
    • "Most contractors would use mid-range paint, but he wanted to use top-of-the-line," says Doug Funston of Benjamin Moore. "That's his strategy – he delivers a platinum-level product for a bronze level price."

      • 

        Yule Heibel on 2008-01-21

        - brilliant
    • The value to the corporate donors is a higher public profile, better public relations, new connections in the community, and letters and plaques of appreciation for being good corporate citizens. "It's wonderful to get those accolades," says Funston.
    • "Years ago you heard 'social housing, why put money in when people are just going to destroy it?' – I've heard that from contractors on various sites," says Brett Barnes, a corporate representative for CMHC. "John has been able to turn that around. The more they contribute to bricks and mortar, the more they also contribute to improving the lives of lower-income households."

Public Stiky Notes

• 
  Yule Heibel on 2008-01-21
  - amazing! Simple, but brilliant and amazing.
• 
  Yule Heibel on 2008-01-21
  - interesting -- how does one leverage that kind of funding ...here, in CANADA, land of perpetual senior-level-of-government meanness?
• 
  Yule Heibel on 2008-01-21
  - brilliant

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