Some tenants of the Accora Village rental community are speaking out against their landlord’s plans to redevelop their west Ottawa neighbourhood over the coming decades, saying they fear being priced out.
The community near Bayshore Shopping Centre is home to more than 8,000 residents living in hundreds of 1960s-era brick townhouses and apartment buildings. That could change, however, as the owner develops a plan to build a mix of new low, medium and highrise units by 2050.
Accora Village covers most of the area between Carling Avenue, Bayshore Drive, Highway 417 and Holly Acres Road and is owned and operated by Ferguslea Properties Limited.
The company told CBC News there is “no urgent challenge or problem driving the planning process” and any significant changes would be years away.
Residents are worried nonetheless.
Acorn, an affordable housing advocacy group, organized a rally on Aug. 10 to demand more information about the redevelopment.
An organizer led chants through a megaphone as demonstrators marched to the offices of Ferguslea Properties to deliver a letter calling on the company to ensure tenants won’t be priced out of their community.
“With proper maintenance, these units are still good places to live,” said Wren Walker, a participant who lives in Accora Village with her family.
7,000 new units planned
Ferguslea is working to develop a master plan for the area and has already begun seeking public feedback on design and plan concepts.
The proposed design concept includes scaling up the neighbourhood with around 7,000 new housing units, in addition to adding parks, retail spaces and new infrastructure.
The west-end community near Bayshore Shopping Centre is home to thousands of residents. (CBC)
A public open house was held to discuss the development in February, followed by a virtual session in June, according to the Engage Ottawa website.
“In those discussions, we heard clearly that residents’ top priorities include mitigating potential housing impacts, supporting long-term affordability, enhancing accessibility and preserving the character of Accora Village,” Ferguslea wrote in the statement.
The company says the development would be done in phases, replacing several of the community’s townhomes over 25 years.
The company says it has no timeline for construction. It would still need to seek city approvals.
“We don’t expect that any significant construction or renewal projects will be undertaken for several years after the community plan is finalized,” the statement said.
Norma-Jean Quibell, who is an Accora Village resident and Acorn member, says Ferguslea hasn’t told tenants how rent will be impacted, causing them to assume the worst.
Norma-Jean Quibell is one of many Accora Village residents concerned that the development will raise rent prices in the community. (Jayden Dill/CBC)
Ferguslea’s vision for Accora includes a variety of housing types they say will accommodate tenants at different income levels and stages of life.
But from Quibell’s perspective, the proposed units look like “luxury condos” based on the renderings.
She says Ferguslea has been mostly receptive to criticism and is revising its master plan with tenant feedback, but some questions remain unanswered.
“We want to know what the timeline is for redoing that plan and if it will be shown to us before it goes to the city.”
Shades of Heron Gate, tenant says
When fellow resident Valerie Heyerdahl started learning about the redevelopment plans, she was reminded of one of Ottawa’s most high-profile cases of mass eviction.
“We were immediately able to spot connections between this scenario and Heron Gate,” said Heyerdahl, who is also a member of Acorn.
In 2018, the owner of Ottawa’s Heron Gate neighbourhood issued mass eviction notices to demolish the community’s affordable townhouses, forcing out hundreds of low-income residents by raising rent. The plan was to build more than 6,000 units, and many buildings have gone up in the years since.
Heyerdahl and other Acorn members are worried the same thing could happen in Accora Village.
Many of those townhomes beside Bayshore Shopping Centre are covered under Ontario’s rent control laws, which caps rent increases for properties built before 2018.
Some residents fear that newer developments could pave the way to soaring rent increases.
‘We’re not giving developers free rein’
“We have to make sure we’re not giving developers free rein to develop without protecting the tenants they have,” said Bay ward Coun. Theresa Kavanagh.
Ferguslea says the wellbeing of its existing residents is the “first priority.”
Ottawa city council voted to pass an anti-renovictions bylaw in July, hoping to deter property owners from using minor repairs or renovations to push out tenants and raise rent prices.
The new bylaw can’t protect tenants in buildings being demolished, but Kavanagh vowed to develop safeguards that would prevent unfair evictions in Accora Village.
“I’ll be working with the city to make sure we have ironclad rules,” Kavanagh said.