A mental-health housing project for Aylmer ?

A 30 single-person-unit project at 70 Eardley Road to house individuals with mental illnesses is on the drawing board. The Société d'habitation du Québec (SHQ) received the project a few months ago and public servants are reviewing it.

“There’s nothing confirmed yet,” said SHQ’s Sylvain Fournier. “It’s too early to say when construction would start.”

The SHQ handles the Accès Logis Québec Program. It encourages pooling of public, community and private resources to produce social and community housing for low and moderate income households and for people with special-housing needs. It allows housing cooperatives, non-profit organizations and non-profit purchasing groups to create and offer affordable rental housing. The Eardley Road proposal comes from an association called Inter-Section.

“Residents (here) are stable, regarding their symptoms. They have embarked on a rehabilitation process,” said Christyne Simard, Inter-Section’s manager.

Inter-section is a Gatineau non-profit organization which provides rehabilitation services and programs for people with mental health problems. It already operates a 35-unit housing project in Gatineau.

“There is a need for this in Aylmer. We have a satellite office on Du Couvent Street; over the past 16 years we noticed enormous needs for affordable housing for our clientele,” said Simard.

The future tenants already live in Aylmer and are already paying rent.

The organization plans to move their Aylmer offices to the new building, which will provide additional support for future tenants.

The building would be at the north-west of the Aylmer Food Bank and the daycare. “People from the daycare are okay with the project,” said Simard.

The property is owned by an Aylmer construction company which will build the units. “We will become owners of the divided lot and of the building,” noted Simard.

Inter-Section still needs to obtain funding from the SHQ and from Gatineau, which has set aside funds for such a centre.  Mr. Fournier added, “It can take months or a year before approval.”