A 26-unit modular housing project that will be home to people who have been using the city’s shelter system should be complete by the end of the year.

The city’s planning and administration committee unanimously approved on Tuesday a zoning bylaw amendment that will allow the construction of the affordable housing project at 177 Colborne St. West. Final approval is required at this month’s council meeting.

The four-storey building will include 26, 300-square-foot studio apartments, four of which will be barrier-free. The ground floor will have commercial space intended to be used as an office for the city’s family and income stability staff. A total of 16 off-street parking spaces will be provided, about half of what is normally required under the city’s zoning bylaw.

A report to the committee from Nicole Wilmot, the city’s director of planning, said less parking is needed because the development is on a bus route and within walking distance of stores and amenities along Colborne Street West.

Deb Schlichter, manager of housing development, said that for those on ODSP (Ontario Disability Support Program), “car ownership is very difficult.” She said none of the 30 residents at the city’s Marlene Ave. housing development use the provided parking spaces.

The units will become home to older, but not senior, applicants with no dependents who are on the city’s waitlist for community housing. This age group makes up 40 per cent of the waitlist, which currently includes more than 1,700 households. Those people can wait up to 10 years for a unit they can afford.

The city will own and operate the building, which will offer rent geared to income.

Coun. Rose Sicoli said there’s a difference between housing that’s attainable – meaning affordable to people earning around the area median income – and affordable housing, which is priced below the market value and typically requires no more than 30 per cent of a household’s monthly income to buy or rent.

“This development is affordable housing in its truest form,” said Sicoli. “It will allow people to get back on their feet in a dignified way.”

The components of the $5.5-million housing project are being built by Brantford-based ANC Modular. Once complete, the components are assembled on site. The company also constructed a “tiny home” project on city-owned property at Stinson and Stirton avenues.

Coun. Joshua Wall said he’s often asked by people why the city isn’t building tiny homes to address its affordable housing crisis. Schlichter said the Colborne Street West development “is tiny houses, just stacked tiny houses.” Jeff Medeiros, senior planner with the city, said three times more land would be needed if the 26 units were built separately.

Mayor Kevin Davis said the development creates desperately needed housing on vacant property that has been doing nothing more than collecting garbage.

“ANC are a local manufacturer,” said Davis. “The cost per unit is much less than a typical build.”

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