NationTalk: Ontario Construction News – The City of Ottawa is working to build more housing for Indigenous people experiencing homelessness after the approval of an Indigenous-specific housing strategy by the city’s planning and housing committee last Wednesday (Oct. 23).

City council will review and decide on the committee’s recommendations at its meeting today.

The strategy was developed by the Ottawa Aboriginal Coalition (OAC) with support from city staff as part of Ottawa’s 10-Year Housing and Homelessness Plan.

The strategy identifies key projects that would benefit Indigenous people experiencing homelessness in Ottawa, including transitional housing for Inuit women and their children, a family healing centre, an aging-out initiative to support youth aging out of Children’s Aid Society care, and an Indigenous hub.

In May, city council approved the transfer of city-owned land at 250 Forestglade Cres. to the OAC to build transitional housing for Inuit women and their children.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and Indigenous Services Canada will fund the project.

It would make Ottawa the first city south of Inuit Nunangat to offer transitional housing for Inuit women.

The OAC is continuing to work on its strategy, and the city says it will seek to identify more municipally owned lands that might be made available for projects.

In other business, the committee also approved an application to rezone a federally owned property at Heron Road and Baycrest Dr., the former site of the Campanile Campus, which was built in the 1960s.

By

 Mark Buckshon, Staff Writer