The newest affordable housing project in Windsor is now officially open.
An official grand opening ceremony was held Monday, even though residents started moving into Meadowbrook Place earlier this summer.
The building, located off Lauzon Parkway at 3100 Meadowbrook Lane, features 145 units for those of all income levels as well as small families and seniors.
The complex features 46 accessible units, includes both indoor and outdoor shared spaces, and outdoor fitness equipment.
Construction on the project began in late November 2019 and began welcoming residents in the Summer of 2023.
A hallway leading to apartment units at Meadowbrook Place, located off Lauzon Parkway at 3100 Meadowbrook Lane. (Photo: Rob Hindi)
The official opening was attended by a number of local politicians along with Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, and Paul Calandra, Ontario's Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
Calandra says not everybody wants to be in a long-term care home.
"They want to live in their community for as long as they can possibly can," he says. "You have met that challenge right here. It is an example of not only how we can bring communities together, it is an example of how we can work across government to meet challenges that we are facing."
Minister Fraser says this building recognizes that everyone has a place in our community and that we deserve to live with one another.
"A third of the building is reserved for affordable units which are typically geared toward a person's income, their ability to pay. The rest of the building is offered at below market rents which is going to provide opportunities for people who may have a job, but can't find a place to life that they can afford, to never the less be able to live in this building. This wonderful building that they'll be able to call home," he says.
A kitchen in an apartment unit at Meadowbrook Place, located off Lauzon Parkway at 3100 Meadowbrook Lane in Windsor. (Photo: Rob Hindi)
The rent affordable housing ranges between $300 to $900 for a one-bedroom apartment, while the maximum rent for the market rental units is around $2,300 for a three-bedroom unit.
CEO of Windsor Essex Community Housing Corporation, Cynthia Summers, says 78 per cent of the units in the building are now rented.
"Affordable units are either tied to someone's rent, 30 per cent of their rent or they're subsidized units, where different levels of government have provided subsidies to take the rent that they pay and add to that. So they can afford the unit," she says.
The federal government provided $33.8 million, $13.3 million of which is a contribution, through the National Housing Co-Investment Fund for the project. The funding is on top of just over $5 million announced for the project in September 2020 by the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario through the Social Infrastructure Fund, the Investment in Affordable Housing program, and the Ontario Priorities Housing Initiative.
Officials say the project came in under budget but by how just much is still being worked out.