More than $20 million has been announced for a new 56-unit development in Saint John’s Waterloo Village.
Officials from all three levels of government were on hand Friday at the Steepleview Development.
Half of the 56 units at the Cliff Street development will be rented as affordable housing for seniors, women and children, and Indigenous Peoples.
The project will also include a 120-space daycare centre, wellness gardens and a community room.
More than $18.1 million is coming from the federal government’s Affordable Housing Fund.
The project will also receive nearly $3.4 million from the province, which includes more than $2.2 million in rent supplements.
Saint John is contributing $260,000, there is $840,000 in land equity from the Diocese of Saint John, and the Knights of Columbus – Council 937 is contributing $250,000.
The Saint John not-for-profit behind the project said earlier this summer that it was facing added expenses.
Kevin McDonald, president of Steepleview Developments Inc., said they have been forced to hire overnight security due to an increase in crime.
“The theft of a generator, the cutting and removing of all power cords, and then it goes on from there to stolen tools, break and enter into vehicles on site,” McDonald said in an interview in July.
In another incident, McDonald said a construction worker at the site was sprayed with an irritant.
The security is expected to add between $150,000 and $200,000 to the project cost — something the not-for-profit was not budgeting for.
Construction on the building is set to be finished by next fall.
