Kingston City Council denied Limestone City Co-operative Housing’s (LCCH) loan request at their most recent meeting, which aimed to promote affordable housing, food security, and environmental sustainability.
At the Sept. 17 council meeting, a vote of 11 to two denied LCCH’s request for a $2.29 million bridge loan.
The loan requested $2.29 million over three years from the City of Kingston to developing budget estimates and schematic drawings for a proposed co-operative apartment building at 900 Division St. LCCH is a non-profit organization that promises below-market rent for a 248-unit, 14-storey building.
According to a press release from LCCH, a 560 square-foot, one-bedroom unit would have a housing charge of $917 per month. This is in comparison to the average rent of $1,329 for one-bedroom apartments in Kingston, according to a national rent report.
LCCH also promised lower utility costs for residents due to the renewable energy the building provided—collecting rainwater for use in laundry and toilets, solar panels for electricity, and geothermal systems for heating.
District Councilor for Meadowbrook–Strathcona Jeff McLaren said council has supported LCCH three times in the past. In March 2023, McLaren was appointed on the board of LCCH by council. In June 2023, City Council approved seed funding of $50,000 for class D estimates—cost estimates provided early in the design process, according to the Government of Canada website. Back in February, 2024, council reserved 900 Division St. for one year for LCCH .
McLaren said the surplus of electricity would be used to power the electric vehicle (EV) rideshare.
“Any students living in the co-op would have the same rights and responsibilities as any other co-op member including access to the EV rideshare fleet,” McLaren said in an interview with The Journal.
LCCH also plans to create sustainable living through covering the building with trees and using solar panels that look like wood, stone, steel, and glass. It’s widely accepted in the scientific community that being surrounded by nature leads to better health outcomes.
The co-op building also pledged to create a vertical farm three times larger than what the residents require, stating the food would be sold at-cost to residents without any markups.
“The remaining two-thirds of the harvest would be sold locally. Because the co-op is a non- profit, money from such sales could not be distributed to people but it could be used to lower the housing charge of all residents,” McLaren said.
“We don’t take risks with public money, because it’s public money,” Mayor Bryan Paterson told council.
City Council members cited financial risk as the reason for denying the loan.
“The big challenge I have is that’s a lot of money with the possibility of depleting our capital reserve funds to an unhealthy level,” District Councillor for Williamsville Vincent Cinanni said.
“If we pause this now, all the work that has been done over the last 16 months is essentially wasted,” McLaren told council.
“On April 16, $3,843,818 contingency allowance to be funded by the City and to be used on an as-needed basis in addition to a previously approved $9.9 million loan to build a 38-unit supportive affordable housing complex at 484 Albert St. and 620 Princess St.,” LCCH said in a press release.
On Dec. 19, 2023, council also approved a $3.8 million funding proposal for the old Extendicare building at 309 Queen Mary Rd. to provide 33 to 35 transitional housing units, LCCH said.