SOD TURNING

Housing is needed….

Sister Joan, pictured centre, in London Ontario with members of local non-profit housing advocates.

The Vision SoHo Alliance is responding to the Mayor’s call to build 3000+ units of affordable housing.

Six not-for-profit housing developers turned the sod on Friday, Oct. 14 in response to the Mayor’s call and to the desperate need for housing for many of our citizens.  The housing crisis in the city is on everyone’s mind as the fall turns cold, and snow will soon follow. 

What is unique about this effort is the collaborative work done by six non-profits to develop a piece of land that has both historical significance in London (former site of the War Memorial Children’s Hospital and the first Medical School) and its central location in London.  When completed it will provide approximately 680 units of mixed housing.  This is London’s biggest affordable housing project that the city has undertaken and has the potential to build a community where so many are needed to make it happen. 

We thank the media for the good overage we received for this ground-breaking ceremony and share the links to their coverage here:

Everything you need to know about SoHo affordable housing mega-plan - London Free Press

SoHo affordable housing project on old Victoria Hospital land to get underway in the spring - CBC News

SoHo development ready to move to the building phase - CTV News

Vision SoHo Alliance breaks ground on London, Ont. housing project - GLOBAL NEWS

We will post photos over time - following this transformation of land into homes.  We invite you to follow us!

Sister Joan Atkinson, Chairperson of the London Affordable Housing Foundation.

What London Can Be

Over the past several months while we have all been confined to home, many of us have listened to the news on several platforms giving us the news of the day internationally, nationally, and local news.  As a member of the London Affordable Housing Foundation, one storyline that I have been following with great interest is the impact the pandemic has had on housing.  We know some people who have been able to save and have money to enter a housing market whose prices are rising weekly. However, a story not as readily covered is the impact the pandemic has had on those who have lost jobs, who work for very low wages yet in markets that are identified as essential, and who have lost housing, whose rents are already high, or who are homeless.  Solutions seem elusive or seem to take an endless about of time.

However, I am buoyed by the commitment of the not-for-profit housing providers in the city.  Six of these groups have come together to lay out a plan for mixed housing on part of the lands of the former Victoria Hospital.  The plan is called Vision SoHo Alliance.  As it takes shape, the plan will include over 350 affordable units (i.e. below-market rents for that area).  We were called together by the London Community Foundation to consider how we could collaborate to address the critical housing need in London. Click here to listen to a podcast discussion by Sylvia Harris and Greg Playford describes our plan and our hope to make a difference:

https://www.lcf.on.ca/whatlondoncanbe/2021/3/22/episode-3-sylvia-harris-amp-greg-playford

The podcast is longer than a few minutes, but it is worth the listen.  Join us in supporting this unique and collaborative effort, unique in Canada.

Joan Atkinson, London Affordable Housing Foundation - Part of Vision SoHo.

Click here to read more about the Vision SoHo Alliance.

Concept art for the proposed development on the vacant Old Victoria Hospital lands.