By Joe Mancini
Published June 2023
In late May 2023 we held an open house at the new Queen Street Apartments. Brent Davis of The Record summarized the project well, “the apartments are located in the Bricker Block, the same historic block of buildings where The Working Centre has grown its roots since 1985, the new apartments will provide convenient access to the centre’s hub of income, employment and community supports.”
Most of the apartments are approximately 400 square feet and each has a full kitchen, three-piece bathroom and high ceilings. Sixteen of the units have a second-level loft space. Two of the apartments are 3 and 4 bedrooms. For those familiar with 58 Queen, the former accounting area and computer training space in the Wright Room have been turned into four bachelor apartments without lofts. There are beautiful original wood ceilings on the third floor, while many apartments have exposed brick and large windows. The apartments also use air source and in-unit heat pumps for heating and air conditioning.
This project came together quickly with the July 2021 announcement of Rapid Housing Initiative funding. Our application to build apartments was accepted and by November 2021 we were able to purchase 44-54 Queen Street South while architectural plans for a building permit were submitted in December 2021. Construction formally started in May 2022 and after a grueling year, the units were ready for occupancy at the end of May 2023. All the units will be deeply affordable.
During the evening of May 16th, members of the Waterloo Rotary Club helped unbox and set up 21 sets of fridges and stoves. It was a successful evening as we moved towards our June 1st move-in date.
At the same time, we quickly organized an Open House for the afternoon of Friday May 26, realizing that by June 1st the apartments would soon be occupied.
At the end of April we started accepting applications from organizations that are supporting New Canadians. Most of the new tenants were living in shelters or precarious housing where they could move in immediately. The tenants have come from all over the world including Peru, Columbia, Mexico, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia, Albania, Kosovo, and Iran.
Katherine Bitzer, who is supporting The Working Centre’s affordable housing efforts noted in The Record article that, “When women have come to see their units, there were tears of joy, tears of relief, tears of understanding this is a transition in their lives. I think it means a new start, an opportunity to find stability in housing which they’ve not had, which then allows other pieces to stabilize in their lives.”
One thing that was noticed right away was that the new tenants are making connections at the Resource Centre at 58 Queen which provides a common area where they can check in, get to know the counsellors and be part of a community of support. The projects on Queen Street will expand further when The Green Door opens at 54 Queen Street South on the main floor and soon after we look forward to the reopening of the Queen Street Commons Café.
Many thanks to the Region of Waterloo and Federal Government Rapid Housing Initiative, City of Kitchener and the Region for waiving Development Fees and to the main project team that assisted The Working Centre – architect Robert Dyck and Just Working Construction. As a community we are weaving supports to help make new housing possible.
