12 new affordable homes coming to Windsor

Source: City of Windsor/X.

Work nears completion on an affordable housing apartment complex in downtown Windsor on Windsor Avenue near Sheppard Street. Construction started last November.

The building features 12 affordable housing units, each with two bedrooms, geared towards Indigenous Peoples experiencing or at risk of homelessness. It’s the third phase of the Rapid Housing Initiative.

The Rapid Housing Initiative and the Affordable Housing Fund have seen close to 4,700 homes repaired and 172 new affordable homes built in Windsor since 2020.

“We do expect women and children to be prioritized in this home,” said Windsor-Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk.

“These homes are built for Indigenous community partners and again, this addresses the urgent housing need.

Total cost of the complex is in the neighbourhood of $4.6 million.

“Hopefully the first people will be moving in March 1,” said Eric Hill, executive director for Can-Am Urban Native Homes.

While the build helps satisfy a need, there are some in the neighbourhood that feel that the three-storey building doesn't belong on a block with single family homes.

“I don't think it's in the wrong spot,” said Andrew Daher, City Commissioner of Human and Health Services.

“At the end of the day, we have to build density within our community, and you take a lot like this, and you may be able to put one or two units, but now we're able to put 12 units. That's 12 more units that we have in the community that we didn't have before.”

A neighbour, who didn't want to appear on camera, worries about traffic between her house and the building, among other things.

“I know she doesn't like it,” said city councillor Renaldo Agostino.

“I know, there's a lot of people that look at this from a different perspective, but that's a perspective of 25 years ago, not of 2024.”

Daher said the city doesn’t have an abundance of land available for development.

“We're pretty much landlocked,” Daher said.

“If you look at the availability of land within Windsor, we have to think differently.”