BOYLSTON — Six months after incorporating with a mandate to secure affordable homes and apartments for area residents, Guysborough County’s first community-based housing organization has purchased its first building.
The Guysborough County Housing Association (GCHA) closed on the six-unit structure in Boylston on Jan. 30, paying $600,000.
“It’s our first acquisition and we are really pleased,” GCHA President Nancy O’Regan told The Journal in an interview last week. “We couldn’t build six units for twice that.”
The building, located at 17738 Hwy. 16, contains five two-bedroom and one one-bedroom apartment, which are occupied. Tenants will now fall under the province’s community housing rules, which limit rent to a maximum of 30 per cent of household income.
“There will be no rent increases,” O’Regan said. “All of the tenants will be able to stay where they are at the rents they are currently paying as [these] are already considered affordable by provincial and federal market levels for this region ... We want people to have leases they can renew and to make sure that they’re able to stay as long as they wish.”
Meanwhile, plans are underway to upgrade and expand the living spaces on the 2.6-acre site.
“We’re having Efficiency Nova Scotia come in and create a plan for how we can put heat pumps into the units to reduce the [cost] of the electric heat,” she said. “As well, we want to put in some more insulation and look at ventilation.”
She added, “If it meets all the zoning and bylaws, we would like to be able to expand and build six more units on the back, though we haven’t done the feasibility [plan] for that yet.”
For the GCHA – incorporated last July as a non-profit organization involving a diverse group of municipal, housing, anti-poverty and other social support organizations – transitioning to the role of landlord has been an intense, but ultimately rewarding experience, O’Regan said.
“The Municipality of the District of Guysborough (MODG) gave us a $10,000 grant for the down payment and acquisition costs. We’ve applied for a $15,000 grant from the [national] Centre for Community Housing Transformation to cover environmental assessments, building appraisal, and water, sewage, and radon testing ... We’re all so proud right now; just beaming.”
MODG District 3 Councillor Neil DeCoff – who represents Boylston and other nearby communities – is also pleased. “There is definitely a need for this in our community,” he told The Journal. “I know they [the GCHA] have been through a lot of paperwork to purchase the building when it became available. It’s great and it’s a start.”
O‘Regan confirmed that the group is eyeing two other properties for affordable housing development.
“We’re still trying to acquire land in Sherbrooke for a seniors’ complex, and we are looking at land from the MODG for [future] family-housing units,” she said.
“The difference between market rental and community housing is the notion of support for tenants. We have a service provider network [on our board] and, as we meet with tenants and identify their needs, we can make connections for them with those community services. Not everyone is going to need something, but for those who do we will have the partners available to provide support.”
In addition to O’Regan, the GCHA’s board of directors includes: officer/directors Maud Peters (vice-president), Juanita Byard (secretary) and Keith Towse (treasurer); directors Mark Haynes, Adam Rodgers and Nathan Sparks; and directors/representatives from the Upper Big Tracadie Seniors Action Club, Canso and Area Development Association, MODG, Municipality of the District of St. Mary’s, Kids First Association, Antigonish-Guysborough Black Housing Association, A Roof Over Your Head Society and Nova Scotia Works.
“I think the really important thing for me, and for the board, is that we do not take our foot off the gas,” O’Regan said. “We’ve got good, good partnerships, and we feel really good about the strength of those relationships.”
