Six affordable family-sized homes will be part of a townhouse complex on Thompson Road in the Hamilton area of east Richmond. Council approved a housing agreement on Monday night with the developer, Parc Thompson, to deliver the units.
The townhouse rezoning application originally included a cash-in-lieu contribution to the city’s Affordable Housing Reserve Fund, but the planning committee asked in February for rental units instead.
The affordable units will be one or two storey three-bedroom townhouses whose maximum rent will be $1,480 per month. Household income cannot exceed $58,050 for renters of these units.
While not part of the agreement, the city has encouraged the developer to work with a non-profit housing operator to manage the units. The units must remain at affordable rents in perpetuity and all amenities available to other occupants must be available to those in the affordable units as well.
The six units are equivalent to five per cent of the entire development being built by Parc Thompson with a total combined floor area of 665 square metres. The development was rezoned under the previous housing policy which called for five per cent of units to be affordable units. The new policy, effective as of 2017, calls for 10 per cent to be affordable units.
There will be 120 units in total in 24 buildings.
