An aerial view of Sooke's town centre, looking southwest. Marked in blue are parcels acquired by BC Housing for the purposes of constructing nearly 250-units of affordable rental apartments in four buildings. Google/Citified.ca
$68 million in affordable housing earmarked for Sooke on Victoria's West Shore
MIKE KOZAKOWSKI, CITIFIED.CA
Published March 9, 2019
Updated on November 6, 2020
244-units of affordable rentals will start construction in the West Shore suburb of Sooke this year as part of the Capital Regional District’s (CRD) Regional Housing First Program, Citified has learned.
Working with the CRD and M'akola Development Services, BC Housing has acquired multiple parcels in Sooke’s town centre for the purposes of building four rental complexes slated for occupancy between 2021 and 2022.
Two five-storey residences totalling 170 homes will be constructed along the 6400-block of Sooke Road at 2075 Drennan Street on 3.5-hectares of land across two properties.
Completion of the two-phased project is earmarked for 2022 or 2023.
A stone’s throw from Drennan Street near the intersection of Throup Road and Charters Road, a 1.5-hectare site at 2170 Charters Road has been acquired for a 75-unit rental complex comprised of eight accessible units, 15 provincially-assisted units and 60 affordable suites, 36 of which will be priced at near-market rates. Completion is planned for 2022.
The total budget for both projects is $68,340,000, or $280,082 per residence, with just over $11 million contributed by the CRD. An agency or agencies tasked with managing the rentals have not been selected, and final building designs have yet to be publicly unveiled.
Both sites will target individuals, families and people experiencing homelessness with a mix of suite sizes and accessibility options.
The provincial government’s efforts through BC Housing to rapidly increase the availability of affordable rental homes in the Capital Region have yielded multiple property acquisitions since 2015 that include hotel conversions into apartments or low-barrier housing facilities (including the Super 8 Hotel on Douglas Street), the purchase of newly completed market-priced rental buildings re-positioned as affordable housing, and real-estate development efforts such as the Sooke projects.
BC Housing’s and the CRD’s plans under the Regional Housing First Program are expected to yield 494-units of affordable housing in Sooke and Langford across four projects, 250 of which will rise in Langford with occupancy slated for 2021. An additional 132-units were recently completed along Millstream Road at Treanor Road in Langford, and 72 are earmarked for Victoria at 210 Gorge Road East. Completion of that project is planned for 2020 or 2021, pending municipal approvals.
The upcoming Sooke buildings are in addition to the Knox Centre, a 42-unit affordable housing project nearing completion on Church Road at Wadams Way, and a recently completed mixed-use affordable rental and retail complex along the 6700-block of Sooke Road. C
© Copyright 2019 by Citified.ca. All rights reserved.
Article resources
- Track 2170 Charters Road with Citified
- Track 2075 Drennan Street with Citified
- Are you searching for affordable rentals throughout Greater Victoria? Use Citified to search all upcoming, underway and recently completed projects by using our rentals database and selecting affordable / subsidized in the filters
- Looking for a new-build home or commercial space in Victoria? Use Citified to research new-build condos, rentals and commercial spaces
- Follow Citified on Twitter
- Connect with Citified on Facebook:
You may be interested in:
Construction of Rockland's Bellewood Park condominium and townhome project gets underway
Comments
STAY CONNECTED TO CITIFIED