Due North Housing and the Town of Iroquois Falls have announced a new affordable housing development in the community. The Iroquois Falls multi-family housing site is located on an empty property behind Calvert Street in a residential area of the town.
In addition to the units, Due North is also developing a housing factory over the next two years. It will be a state-of-the art and first-of-its-kind production site that could create over 150 full-time jobs.
The multi-family housing development will feature the following:
- 150 mixed-use units
- Public recreation green space
- A playground
- An early childhood education space
- An Indigenous culture centre
Northern Ontario Business states that Due North hopes to further improve the town's geographical benefits and attractiveness as a first-class destination for investment by becoming an anchor tenant in a new industrial park the municipality is beginning to develop according to their announcement. The jobs being created will be construction trades, designers and technicians.
"Due North Housing not only will bring new employment opportunities to our town, but they are also extremely community-focused. Their business model provides for creating new local businesses as suppliers to the factory and we couldn't be more excited to share future opportunities for our town in the near future."
Iroquois Falls Mayor | Tory Delaurier
The company will work closely with the municipality to protect the environment.
Timmins Daily Press reports that the new development will be great for the senior community, low income residents and the average person in Iroquois Falls to get a place to stay. Both the federal and provincial governments are currently providing billions of dollars in incentives to promote housing development, but there just isn't enough production capacity in the county to help fill this need.
CBC News states that Alexander Bimman, the president and CEO of Due North Housing, said that in its first phase their housing factory will have capacity to build 300 modular homes per year. Bimman said modular homes first gained popularity in Sweden, and said the homes will be well adapted to northern Ontario's climate.
He said the company chose Iroquois Falls for its factory because the town is home to Ontario's second largest timber holdings.
His company has been working closely with nearby First Nations to collaborate on job and housing opportunities.