Newsletter: January 2025
IT’S GROUNDBREAKING
(pun definitely intended)
On December 16th, 2024, the District of Muskoka approved a $320,000 investment in 40 Florence Street, the site of our first project in Muskoka, to support the creation of new, community-owned, permanently affordable housing.
These funds are the result of literally thousands of hours of volunteer work by our team to bring the project to a state of investment readiness, and will be used to do all the necessary surveys, studies, design, and engineering work to determine what can responsibly be built on that land and obtaining proper zoning, site plan approval, and financing.
In the community housing sector, pre-development funding is extremely hard (if not impossible) to come by. Most of the capital funding programs available to non-profit housing organizations like us require that we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on surveys, studies, and design work before we can submit an application.
The District of Muskoka's investment demonstrates innovative leadership in the development of local community housing, and we're grateful to be working closely with them to make this project a reality.
Florence Street Update
With the pre-development investment from the District of Muskoka, we have started building our team of consultants and passionate volunteer experts to steer the Florence Street project through these all important phases of intense work.
Joining the team as development manager is Adrian Dingle, from Raising the Roof (yes, the folks behind the Toque Campaign!) and as architect is Crystal Hopwood from Mosaik Architects Collective.
We are meeting regularly with a volunteer steering committee of experts like Rick Zytaruk of Tooketree Passive Homes, advising on factory built prefabricated panels, and Patrick Chouinard of Element5, advising on mass timber.
Discussions with the Town of Huntsville regarding the land transfer are wrapping up, with final conditions to protect both our and the town's investment into the property.
Bracebridge Memorial Arena Site Update
The Town of Bracebridge released its request for proposals for the decommissioned Memorial Arena site on January 16th, 2025.
Our steering committee has been working on a proposal for that site since our first delegation to Bracebridge Town Council about it in May of 2023, and we're excited for the opportunity to create more community-led and permanently affordable housing in Muskoka, as well as commercial space for community partners who are already doing so much to meet local needs.
RFP submissions are due March 3, 2025. We would love your support!
Get Involved
Can you strike up a conversation with strangers? Are you excited about building community wealth across Muskoka?
We need your help to spread the word about the Muskoka Community Land Trust in at the the many events and festivals being held across our region in 2025.
Learn more about becoming a Community Ambassador in one of our upcoming volunteer info sessions on February 10th and March 10th at noon.
Coming Soon!
Membership
Want to show you support and be part of the movement, join a committee, or be nominated for the board of directors? Membership applications are coming soon.
Community Bonds
We’re working with Tapestry Community Capital to get the details just right, and are excited to launch them for sale soon!