Province expands planned seniors' housing project in Charlottetown

A seniors' housing project for Charlottetown announced last spring by the P.E.I. government is going to be bigger than originally planned.

Announced in March as 20 affordable units, it will now be 32. The province says the expansion was made possible by zoning changes by the City of Charlottetown.

"Addressing the housing needs of all Islanders requires a collaborative approach that puts people first and places a priority on our most vulnerable," said Housing Minister Ernie Hudson in a news release.

The development will be on Pioneer Avenue in the Falconwood neighbourhood near Belvedere Golf Course. Construction is scheduled to start this month for completion in the fall of 2020.

Including this development, a total of 206 affordable seniors' or mixed housing units are currently under construction in the greater Charlottetown area with support from the provincial government, the news release said.

Currently there are 180 seniors on a wait-list for housing, something Hudson saidthis project will help.

"It brings us very close to a point that seniors that are on our housing registry here in the greater Charlottetown area, that it will be taking it down very close to zero," he said.

"In my opinion as minister, it's been a great working relationship that we've had not only with the city, but with developers, with the private sector that has enabled us to come to this point this rapidly."

Those developments include a 60-unit building adjacent to this one.

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