Construction begins for affordable housing units inside a Kitchener church

St. Peter’s Lutheran Church and Indwell, a Christian charity, have joined forces to build 41 affordable units inside the Kitchener church. (CTV News/Chris Thomson)

St. Peter’s Lutheran Church and Indwell, a Christian charity, have joined forces to build 41 affordable units inside the Kitchener church.

A groundbreaking ceremony took place on Friday morning at the church on Queen Street North.

Indwell said it will offer supportive housing for people seeking health, wellness and belonging with health services available to residents on site.

“It's actually going to be a renovation of this existing structure. So converting the three-storey church hall behind us into 41 new apartments,” said Graham Cubitt, the director of projects and development at Indwell. “Demolition work has already started. And we're going to get started shortly with more putting things back and putting in the new apartments.”

The goal is provide critical support for some of the region's most marginalized citizens.

The church said homelessness and a lack of affordable housing is at a crisis level in the region – something they’ve witnessed firsthand.

“We had a family of three living in a subterranean air vent just behind the church. That was one defining moment that galvanized us as a community and as people of faith, we could no longer remain idle,” said Mark Ehlebracht, the pastor at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church.

The region announced it would be contributing $8.9 million to help fund the project. The money comes from the region’s strategic investment fund and forms part of the region’s Building Better Futures initiative.

“The St. Peter’s project is an innovative and important increase in affordable housing for our community,” said Karen Redman, chair of the Region of Waterloo. “Thank you to our partners, including St. Peter’s Church, Indwell, the Ontario Government and the City of Kitchener for ensuring that we can deliver shovel-ready projects as part of Regional Council’s affordable housing plan.”

Construction is expected to wrap up before the fall of 2024.