Published September 2022
We are excited to see the new housing developing at 44-54 Queen Street South. We are making space for safe housing for immigrant and refugee women, as they settle in Waterloo Region. Much of this housing will help single refugees/immigrants with children who face stresses and losses. Affordable housing is important for settling into a new culture. Our Queen Street hub offers multiple ways of connecting to wider supports that complement these apartments.
Construction of the 21 units is progressing well – we are creating beautiful and bright loft units with generous windows. The project has moved rapidly, in spite of the regular construction obstacles.
Funding through the Federal government’s Rapid Housing Initiative hosted by the Region of Waterloo has a goal of achieving occupancy within a year. The project is complicated as it encompasses two buildings – 44-54 Queen South and 58 Queen South. Both buildings are three stories and this project will integrate the entrance, exit and main corridors on the two top floors across the two buildings.
We received our building permit at the end of March, with the final Site Plan approval in April. We were pleased that during this time the City of Kitchener and Region of Waterloo waived most of the Building Permit Fees and Development Fees that in total saved this project $150,000!
With an earlier demolition permit, the two floors of both buildings were completely stripped down to steel beams, joists and bricks. This process revealed the structure of how 58 Queen was constructed. When Aaron Bricker built 44-54 Queen in 1910, he left about 24 feet between 66 Queen and his new building. In 1918, when he built 58 Queen he integrated the walls of 66 Queen and 44-54 Queen. The old exterior bricks which had long been covered up are now a feature in many of these new apartments.
We are pleased to be working with general contractor Just Working Construction. In 2018, we worked successfully together on the Water Street House project. Based in New Hamburg, Just Working Construction is a socially-minded construction company founded by Jeff Van Gyssel. Just Working seeks to share their social principles, rooted in gospel principles, in the field of construction by focusing on hiring newcomers to Canada and providing a safe and ethical work environment. We have seen this in action on Queen Street with so many of the construction crew getting a first-time chance to learn Canadian construction skills. The on-site lead of the project, Kelvin Chatinyara came to Kitchener in 2015 as a refugee from Zimbabwe and used the services of The Working Centre and MCRS. Now he is leading the project which will help other newcomers to our community.
Thanks to our main floor tenants, Black Arrow Cycle and ABC Surplus, for working with us through the construction complexities.
This project is another aspect of The Working Centre’s strategic efforts to build more affordable housing units in our community.
