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A non-profit organization that develops and advocates for affordable student housing in Nova Scotia has made its largest purchase to date: a 46-unit apartment building near Acadia University in Wolfville.
Student Housing Nova Scotia said at least 30 per cent of the units in the Pleasant Street building are below market price. The purchase announced Thursday means those units will remain affordable in a community with high rental demand and limited affordable options, the organization said.
“We know that people capitalize on students as part of the rental market, meaning that students often pay a lot more than non-students on average for properties near universities,” said Mitchell Archibald, executive director of Student Housing Nova Scotia, in an interview.
The organization purchased the property with the help of $8.6 million in loans from the Community Housing Acquisition Program, a provincial fund intended to preserve and expand affordable housing in Nova Scotia.
It also received $546,600 in capital grants, said a news release from the Department of Growth and Development.
Tenants will not be displaced
While priority will be given to students, housing applications are open to anyone in the community with no specific quotas designated by groups.
“We’re not going to displace any of the tenants that we take on through acquisition,” said Archibald.
Student Housing Nova Scotia already owns an 11-unit property adjacent to the Pleasant Street building on Hillside Avenue.
The Town of Wolfville said in a news release it will refund part of the deed transfer tax and property tax increases triggered by the organization’s purchase of the Pleasant Street building and two other properties coming this fall.
The grant through the federal housing accelerator fund ensures a minimum of 30 per cent of the organization’s units in Wolfville remain affordable permanently, said the release.
Group operates more than 100 units across N.S.
Archibald said there is a significant need for housing among students in the Annapolis Valley.
His organization operates 113 units across the province, including 56 near the two Nova Scotia Community College campuses in the Annapolis Valley.
The group, which was founded in 1965, is also actively exploring opportunities in the Halifax Regional Municipality and Antigonish, said Archibald.
“Our goal is to support communities with students in them and to help stabilize some of the rental market,” he said.
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