The City of Windsor has a long way to go before it reaches its goal of building 13,000 new homes, but an announcement on Tuesday brought it a little closer.
Officials from the city, federal and provincial governments, and the Windsor Essex Community Housing Corporation unveiled plans to renovate an old medical office building on Ouellette Avenue into homes for 15 families.
Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare sold the building to the city and contributed $350,000 towards the $3.3-million cost, funded through the Canada-Ontario Housing Initiative.
Five units are prioritized for those experiencing or at risk of being homeless. Another three will be barrier-free.
Commissioner of Human and Health Services Andrew Daher said the city is searching high and low for any building opportunity.
"Any vacant properties, any properties that are up for sale or any individuals or organizations that want to sell a property, we're looking at all opportunities because we know there's a gap in the community," said Daher.
Daher said the city has added around 350 units to its housing stock over the past five years.
Cynthia Summers, the CEO of the Windsor Essex Community Housing Corporation, told the crowd there are more than 6,500 people on a waiting list for an affordable home now.
Mayor Drew Dilkens said to meet the goal, the building department would have to double its output every year for the next nine, but he's determined.
"We're going to meet it, or we're going to die trying because we know how important it is to the people here," he insisted.
Windsor-Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk recalled the importance of affordable housing for his family when they arrived in Canada from Poland in 1984.
"We lived in a wonderful and affordable neighbourhood called Polonia Park, which remains a not-for-profit housing project," recalled Kusmierczyk. "These investments that we are announcing today will ensure that other families can also raise their kids in a community they know and love."