Lelainia Lloyd says she finally feels a sense of belonging.
Scooting around the rain-drenched courtyard at Robert Nicklin Place in her motorized wheelchair, Lloyd said living in one of 35 fully-accessible apartments in a new 164-unit rental complex in Coquitlam has given her the time and energy to help build a community around her.
“You don’t realize the energy it takes to live in inaccessible buildings,” Lloyd said. “It’s a game-changer.”
The six-storey wood-frame building, located at 3100 Ozada Ave., was officially opened Friday, March 8. It’s named for the longtime CEO of the Affordable Housing Society (AHS) who died in 2016.
Fittingly then, 74 of the units are affordable, of which 16 are deeply subsidized for households with very low incomes and 36 have their rent geared to income.
Nicklin’s oldest son, Kevin, said seeing his father’s name above the building’s entrance and on a special plaque in its lobby makes his family “extremely proud” of the 27 years he worked to help build and secure affordable housing throughout the Lower Mainland.
“This is an important step in the right direction,” he said of the complex that welcomed its first residents in January, adding his father’s effort to increase affordable housing options will be felt “for years to come.”
It’s also a testimony to what can be achieved when several levels of government work together, said Stephen Bennett, the current CEO of AHS.
Six years in the making, Robert Nicklin Place was built with an $8.1-million contribution from BC Housing’s Community Housing Fund which will also provide $110,000 in annual operation funds, a forgivable loan of $1.9 million along with a $44.2-million low-interest, repayable loan, from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, $3.3 million from the City of Coquitlam and the waiver of $869,000 in development cost charges from Metro Vancouver, TransLink and School District 43.
Ravi Kahlon, B.C.’s Minister of Housing, said the new homes are “designed to be the kind of sustainable homes that give people stable, affordable housing in a housing crisis.”
Representing the federal government, Ken Hardie, the MP for Fleetwood–Port Kells, said the "new living environment will allow residents to remain in their community, close to their loved ones.”
Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart said one of Nicklin’s driving forces was his dedication and love for family and the importance stable, affordable housing can play in keeping families together.
“It’s vital to the success of communities and families,” he said.
And more affordable housing is in the pipeline.
On Feb. 9, Stewart announced $25 million from the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund will fast-track the construction of 650 new housing units over the next three years.
