Building affordable, sustainable and inclusive communities

Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation: 143-153 Arlington Ave in Ottawa, ON

For a growing number of developers across the country, affordable housing is about more than bricks and mortar. It’s about creating inclusive, integrated and truly mixed communities, where all residents can take pride in the place they call home.

Fast facts

• Project: Arlington Avenue Townhouses
• Location: 143-153 Arlington Avenue, Ottawa, ON
• Developer: Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation (CCOC)
• Architect: CSV Architects
• Builder: Taplen Construction
• Building type: Stacked townhomes
• Size: 16,093 ft2 (1,526 square metres)
• Units: 16 units of affordable rental housing (two- and three-bedrooms)
• Tenants: Mixed (incl. moderate and low-income families and individuals)
• Cost to build: $5,091,000 (not including value of land)
• Rents: Affordable rents at or below 70% of 30% of Median Household Income
• Funding partners: CMHC Rental Construction Financing initiative (RCFi) ($3.97 million loan); CCOC equity investment ($600,000); City of Ottawa – Section 37 grant ($500,000); CMHC SEED funding ($23,000)

Renovate or build new?

“Our mission is to create mixed housing in every sense of the word,” explains CCOC Executive Director, Ray Sullivan. “Mixed incomes, singles, families and seniors, people with accessibility requirements – all living together in a true community.”

“Our mission is mixed housing in every sense of the word. Mixed incomes, singles, families and seniors, people with accessibility requirements – all living together in a true community.”

Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation (CCOC) is a community-based, private non-profit housing organization that creates, maintains and promotes housing for low-and moderate-income people. Currently, they own and manage some 50 properties providing 1,600 units of affordable housing.

For Arlington Avenue, CCOC chose to tear down an existing 12-unit building they had been operating for decades and build an entirely new structure from scratch. According to Ray, the motive behind the teardown was simple economics.

“We’ve owned the older building since the late 1970s,” he says. “After 35 years, it needed a lot of work. To renovate these 12 units, we realized we would have to invest up to 2 million dollars. Alternatively, with support from the Rental Construction Financing initiative, we could invest $600,000 and end up with 16 new and much higher-quality homes.”

A win-win-win for residents, the community and the environment

As part of its mission, CCOC is committed to building homes that are as environmentally friendly as they are affordable. For Arlington Avenue, they decided to use a Passive House approach to get the best results for the lowest cost.

Pioneered in the early 1970s, Passive House focuses on simple and inexpensive techniques like improved insulation and airtight building envelopes to enhance energy efficiency, reduce operating expenses and create a healthier living environment.

“The great thing about Passive House is it doesn’t take a lot of money to have a big impact,” Ray explains. “It’s really simple technology. What it all comes down to is paying lots of attention to the details at every stage of the design and construction process. If done properly, with a Passive House design, you could theoretically heat an entire building with a candle and cool it with an ice cube.”

“The great thing about Passive House is it doesn’t take a lot of money to have a big impact…. with a Passive House design, you could theoretically heat an entire building with a candle and cool it with an ice cube.”

For Arlington Avenue, this included features like:

• super-insulated (12”) walls and roofs
• triple-glazed windows with solar shading
• airtight building envelope with minimal thermal bridges
• ENERGY STAR® appliances and low-flow water features
• high-efficiency Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV) system
• energy-efficiency savings of 56% relative to the 2015 National Energy Code for Buildings

“Our investment in Passive House added around 7% or 8% to our budget,” Ray says. “But the energy savings will more than recoup that cost. Plus, it dramatically reduces our tenants’ monthly utility bills, which is what affordable housing is all about.”

Putting the pieces together

In terms of affordability, under CCOC’s contribution agreement with the City of Ottawa, the Arlington Avenue project meets or exceeds all of the municipality’s affordability criteria.

To launch the project, the CCOC sold a 4-unit building they owned nearby. The City of Ottawa awarded them a Section 37 grant of $500,000. For the rest of the budget, CCOC turned to CMHC and the federal government’s Rental Construction Financing initiative (RCFi).

“The RCFi funds were a real make-or-break for us,” Ray says. “Coming up with equity for new projects is a challenge for any non-profit provider and the low rates offered through the RCFi drastically reduced that hurdle. The RCFi loan made this entire project possible.”

Arlington Avenue also offers its tenants a number of other advantages. These include:

• central location with access to services, public transit and employment
• barrier-free design including two adaptable suites and two fully accessible units
• 16 bicycle parking spots in addition to five vehicle spots
• an integrated design that blends into the surrounding neighbourhood

An eye towards the future

According to Ray, CCOC is already making plans to adapt some of the lessons they learned at Arlington Avenue for their future projects.

“The use of Passive House and accessing the RCFi funding, will definitely be part of our future decision-making,” he says. “There’s no question this is an approach that works for us, for the community and for keeping housing affordable for our tenants for decades to come.”

“There’s no question this is an approach that works for us, for the community, and for keeping housing affordable for our tenants for decades to come.”