The Region of Waterloo has plans to transform what was once home to the Kinsmen Children's Centre on Concession Road into a multi-use building that could accommodate up to 33 affordable housing units, a child care facility and a deployment station for paramedic services.
The proposal, which is being tabled at today's administration and finance committee meeting, sees the 1.08 acre property beside Coronation Public School developed to accommodate a $35 million five-storey building featuring 40,0000 square feet of space.
A paramedic services deployment station would be on the ground floor, emergency shelter space on the second floor, and affordable housing on the third, fourth and fifth floors. The report says the idea of incorporating third-party managed child care spaces into the design "is still being reviewed at this time and would potentially replace the emergency shelter space as the uses may not be compatible in the same facility."
The Kinsmen Children’s Centre was constructed on the site in 2004 by the Region of Waterloo and operated as a child care centre until September 2021, when the empty building was declared surplus by the region.
In December of that year it was reopened as an emergency COVID isolation shelter for people experiencing homelessness. It continues to operate as a shelter.
In 2022, staff reviewed the property for appropriateness to be redeveloped in some capacity for affordable housing purposes as part of its Building Better Futures initiative.
The report says the nature of the affordable housing units will be dependent on the final uses for the building, but could include transitional housing, family housing, or mixed-income.
More recently, staff have identified this geographical area as a priority area for child care spaces, the report says.
Staff circulated a “Notice of Regional Asset Re-Purposing Circulation” to the region’s various departments to confirm there are no other interested internal groups.
At this time, conversations with external parties have not occurred about non-regional uses on the property, the report says.
Following multiple staff-level discussions this year about how to best utilize the property, this joint initiative developed between Paramedic Services, Homelessness & Supportive Housing and Affordable Housing.
Staff is seeking council endorsement for the concept with capital cost for the project estimated in the range of $35 million, in 2024 dollars, including construction, consulting, internal fees, and furniture and equipment.
The property is valued at around $1.4 million.
The report says staff have worked with the region’s funding partner Grant Match to identify possible sources of funding and determined that through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' Sustainable Affordable Housing initiative and the Housing Accelerator Fund, up to $6 million in grants and loans could be available.
Additionally, up to $250,000 in study grant funding may be available to initiate the required site and project development studies, the report says.
The 2023 Paramedic Services Capital Budget includes $1 million to begin the design of a new station.
Pending concept endorsement, staff will pursue available funding sources from provincial and federal programs, other available grants and internal reserves which may include the Strategic Investment for Affordable Housing.
Once endorsed, staff would provide a full financial analysis including capital costs, financing sources and a comprehensive operating budget projection for consideration by council, the report says.
