Deaf-blind community starts construction on new apartment project

by Shane Dingman

Renderings of the new apartment complex at 150 Eighth St., Toronto. The Canadian Helen Keller Centre says the project will provide affordable, accessible housing for over 56 deafblind individuals.

A project to build 56 new apartments designed for members of the deaf-blind community in Toronto using federal Rapid Housing Initiative funding almost didn’t happen.

“It was frustrating for the first couple years; I didn’t really think this would go anywhere,” said Philip Corke, board chair for the Canadian Helen Keller Centre (CHKC). In 2018, the small charity saw an opportunity to expand from the 16 apartments it had built in 1992 in northern Toronto when the city began exploring opportunities to convert city-owned land into affordable housing under the umbrella of projects like CreateTO and Housing Now. But it wasn’t until 2020 that the first positive signs came in a call from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) urging the charity to apply for Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI) funding.

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