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City of Brantford buys former student residence to convert to affordable housing

Lucy Marco Place (left) and Heritage House (right) at 36-40 Queen Street in Brantford, Ont. (Dan Lauckner/CTV Kitchener) Lucy Marco Place (left) and Heritage House (right) at 36-40 Queen Street in Brantford, Ont. (Dan Lauckner/CTV Kitchener)
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Plans are in the works to repurpose a former student residence in downtown Brantford as affordable housing.

On Wednesday, the City of Brantford announced it had purchased Lucy Marco Place at 36-40 Queen Street and intends to make it available to people wait-listed for affordable housing. The city said the sale price was $7.3 million.

“Having the building occupied by residents who will be in the units on a more permanent basis than students will help reenergize the downtown year-round,” the city said in a media release.

The project will have a minimum of 28 units, as some of the existing spaces may be retrofitted to provide more apartments.

The city said it had been in talks with Wilfrid Laurier University to acquire the building since earlier this year. Restructuring meant the university no longer needed it to house students.

Lucy Marco Place is one of two buildings at 36-40 Queen Street, the other, Heritage House is low-income apartments.

“In the past several years, the demand for affordable housing options in Ontario and in Brantford specifically has outpaced availability, resulting in lower vacancy rates and higher housing costs,” the city said.

The purchase of Lucy Marco Place is the latest in a series of measures aimed at creating more affordable housing in Brantford, including a project on Stirton Avenue and a new 26-unit modular housing development under construction at 177 Colborne Street West.

As of February, the City of Brantford said there were over 1,700 households on the community housing waitlist.

The city said it is in discussions with various community partners about supports for future Lucy Marco Place residents and how people on the affordable housing waitlist will get access to the units once they’re ready.

A report on the project is set to go to city council in the coming months.

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