Courtenay council adopted a bylaw to allow Habitat for Humanity to construct 12 homes at 1375 Piercy Ave. The project will consist of a trio of four-unit townhomes.
“I think this development is a good news story for the neighbourhood,” Coun. Wendy Morin said at Monday’s (Jan. 18) meeting. “It upsets me when folks are being stigmatized for, quite frankly, living in poverty. I think, as Habitat for Humanity has come up in many different areas lately, that those property values have actually increased.”
Habitat’s latest Courtenay project was a 10-unit build at 1330 Lake Trail Rd. The final two families moved into their homes in December.
Mayor Bob Wells praised the Habitat model for being special in terms of training and its selection process.
“The people who get selected, they are working their butts off to get those houses built,” he said.
Coun. Manno Theos recalled the first Habitat build in Courtenay by the Rialto Theatre.
“It’s been a success story, along with many of the other ones,” Theos said. “The people are taking such great pride in where they’re living and investing into seeing those homes come to fruition.”
Previous Habitat builds in the city include 1695 Willemar Ave. (2004), 2209 Willemar (2007), 630 26th St. (2009) and 1580 Piercy (2013/14).