9 Ratz Street

In fall 2011, just before its 10th anniversary, Beyond Housing was approved for $400,000 under the Region of Waterloo’s Affordable Housing Strategy. This federal-provincial money was applied to the two Elmira projects (the townhouse purchases on Stillwater Street and the Centre Street build), allowing Beyond Housing to pay down mortgage debt.

This opportunity arose in an unusual way. The owners of a multi-unit building in Waterloo had sold their property to a neighbouring condominium developer and were required to remove all buildings as a condition of the purchase. Rather than create rubble for landfills, they were searching for a non-profit organization that could make use of their building once it was removed from the site. It had been determined that the upper three floors could be salvaged intact and transported to new sites. They contacted Beyond Housing to ask whether this was something they could do.

Thanks to a new round of government funding allocated specifically to this location, Beyond Housing was able to agree. Each of the three salvageable floors was about 1,500 square feet which were converted into four-bedroom units suitable for large families. The next challenge was to find suitable land for the building. Bonnie Brubacher, who was already engaged in the Centre Street build, located an estate sale property on Ratz Street in Elmira. The property was an unusual one: an existing three-bedroom bungalow with an abutting vacant lot, which had already been zoned for a duplex. It was made to order.

Because of the Elmira site’s proximity to a chemical factory, Beyond Housing commissioned two environmental studies with help from a Canada Mortgage and Housing SEED grant. Testing showed that the soil was free of contamination and stable enough to build on. Two of the floors went to this site and the third floor was moved to David St. in Wellesley. A new second storey was added to create a second duplex in Wellesley. The donors provided a new roof, the foundation, and the cost of the move the structures. Beyond Housing was responsible for the costs of a new foundation and the construction of a new second storey with a new roof in Wellesley.

In the meantime, new tenants moved into the existing bungalow on the site. Beyond Housing made use of Residential Energy Efficiency Program (REEP) incentives to improve the energy rating of this bungalow.

This included a new gas-fired heating system, new energy-saver windows and doors, and insulation upgrades.