By Charlie Senack
The sound and sights of construction machinery will finally start to be noticed on Somerset near Preston as hundreds of new affordable housing units are built.
On Sept. 24, Ottawa Community Housing officially broke ground on Gladstone Village, which will see 336 new affordable homes constructed under Phase 1. They will range from studio apartments to four bedroom suites, a rarity that is needed in the core as intensification grows.
“In the past, Ottawa Community Housing has built up to five and six bedroom apartments. When we look at supply, it’s very important that we catch up to how we were building in the 1970s,” said OCH CEO Stéphane Giguère in an interview with KT. “About eight years ago, we adopted a strategy that enabled us to work on the supply side and preserve the assets that we have, which are more than 16,000 homes. But it’s also important that we build.”
The two residential towers will include a 19-storey residence to the north and a nine-storey residence to the south, both terraced along the eastern face of the site. One-fifth of the units are designed to be barrier-free visitable, with considerations for growing families and aging-in-place kept in mind.
In 2017, the three-hectare parcel of land was purchased by OCH from the federal government for $7 million. Once fully built, the site will be part of history as the first mixed-income community in Ottawa.
The building will host 2,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor and will include many features, including fitness and bike rooms, indoor and outdoor lounges, event spaces, and a high efficiency heating and cooling system. OCH said it will be a model for green living. Each resident will only pay about $15 in hydro per year.
“What we realized is community building. Places where you can create positive collaboration between residents — a place where they can get to know each other and share the same bicycle racks where they talk about their hobbies, kids and families,” said Giguère.
Over the next five or so years, around 1,100 affordable housing units will be built at Gladstone Village. The site will also house a new elementary French school and expansion of the nearby Plant Recreation Centre.
Somerset Coun. Ariel Troster said the goal of the project is to ensure people can’t tell the difference between who is living in affordable housing and who lives in more expensive housing. She added seven to 10 thousand new residents are expected to call Centretown home over the next decade because of developments like this one.
“I was here in nine minutes by bike. That shows what an amazing location this is and how lucky these new residents are going to be. LRT here, right across the middle of Little Italy. Right beside the Plant community centre,” Troster said at the announcement.
Ottawa is in the middle of an affordable housing emergency. In 2017, the waitlist for rent-geared-to-income housing sat at over 10,500. A study produced in 2023 found that for every unit of affordable housing built, 31 are being lost due to rising rents, demolition or renovation. During the 2024 budget process, city council approved a $30 million one-time funding deal for more affordable housing.
According to data from this August, the average rent for a one bedroom apartment in Ottawa climbed above $2,000 compared to $2,577 a month for a two bedroom. That was a 3.3 per cent increase compared to the year before.
“People across the city and indeed the country are feeling the effects of the housing crisis right now. Here in Ottawa there are many new arrivals who come here for our quality of life. They come here because we have a caring city, there are opportunities here, it’s a safe city,” said Mayor Mark Sutcliffe. “People come here to work and raise a family. They come with energy. But there are extraordinary pressures on the housing market right now.”
Giguère said a gradual move in of residents will begin sometime in 2026.