While housing affordability in Ottawa remains a complicated crisis requiring multiple fixes, the most ambitious project yet by Habitat for Humanity Greater Ottawa promises to make a difference to families needing an affordable home of their own.
Habitat, partnering with homebuilder Caivan and with funding from the City of Ottawa and the provincial government, will build 33 townhomes in Nepean next year, with occupancy slated for early 2027. That’s more than double the number of homes Habitat Greater Ottawa has ever built in a single project and part of the organization’s equally ambitious goal of building 100 new affordable homes within the next five years.
The townhome project, dubbed Beechcliffe Homes and being built in an existing residential neighbourhood at Beechcliffe Street and Fair Oaks Crescent, near Woodroffe Avenue and Hunt Club Road, is “a big step for us,” says Habitat Greater Ottawa’s CEO, Sara Cooper. “By working with us — the private sector, the government and ourselves — we can tackle the housing crisis faster. This is allowing us to get more housing to people who need it.”
The townhomes will each be 1,648 square feet with three bedrooms and an option to increase to four depending on family size. Homeowners will have a finished basement, a small backyard, a driveway and a one-car garage.
The neighbourhood is a good location for families, says Cooper. “There are great schools in the area. They’re close to all the amenities they would need as well as public transportation.”
Under the Habitat model, those families, who may have been living in undesirable conditions and whose financial position would otherwise prevent them from ever becoming owners, pay fair market value for their homes. However, they do not make a downpayment and their monthly mortgage premium is for the principal only. Because the mortgage is partially interest-free and premiums are capped at 30 per cent of household income, the homes are affordable and payments predictable.
Habitat families also volunteer for 500 hours as part of their purchase. They can work on Habitat building sites, in the organization’s ReStore or carry out other duties.
“We’re in the business of making sure homeownership doesn’t become a luxury in Canada,” says Cooper. “We’re hoping that people who perhaps thought homeownership was never an option for them, it now becomes an option. And it removes any kind of housing precarity out of their lives forever.”
Habitat projects also benefit the larger community by freeing up space elsewhere, she says, including affordable rentals and shelters.
MORE: A Habitat home can change everything
The Beechcliffe Homes partnership
The latest Habitat project has a total value of $18 million. It’s being made possible, in part, because the City of Ottawa is providing the land for free along with $6 million, half of which it received through Ontario’s Building Faster Fund, while the province is contributing $3.4 million.
Caivan, headquartered in Ottawa and currently building homes in both the east and south of the city as well as in the Greater Toronto Area, will bring its innovative, factory-based homebuilding technology to the Habitat project.
Through its manufacturing sister company, ABIC (Advanced Building Innovation Company), Caivan uses technology such as artificial intelligence, robotics and generative design for faster, improved homebuilding. It assembles components, including roofs and framed rooms, at its Barrhaven factory and ships them to building sites, where a home can be assembled in as little as 1.5 hours and then finished with siding and interior elements.
That process not only saves time — for Beechcliffe Homes, that means about 120-160 days will be shaved off the construction schedule compared to conventional homebuilding techniques — but it also slashes homebuilding costs by five to 10 per cent, according to Frank Cairo, co-CEO of Caivan and CEO of ABIC.
As well, the simpler finishes and details that typically characterize affordable homes “lend themselves really well to standardization and also factory building,” says Cairo.
“We will specifically design with affordability in mind, with manufacturing in mind, to ensure there’s no waste or inefficiency in material and labour, in the geometry of the spaces. For so many reasons, affordable and attainable product wants to be manufactured.”
Caivan had been looking for an opportunity to support Habitat other than just financially, he says, and a project like Beechcliffe Homes showcases what’s possible when the business community partners with not-for-profit and government to deliver innovative, affordable housing solutions. “We also hope in time that this is a really great template that can serve other communities.”
MORE: Caivan and ABIC transform homebuilding
Community building
Community is a major part of what Habitat is all about. In fact, Habitat for Humanity Greater Ottawa, once known for building single homes one at a time, has shifted in recent years to multi-unit building in response to the growing need for affordable homes in the city and surrounding area.
Photos: Habitat for Humanity Greater Ottawa
Its most recent project, Kemptville Korners south of Ottawa, comprises 15 townhomes and stacked townhomes. Another project, Titus Landing, is an eight-unit stacked townhome development on the former Canadian Forces Rockcliffe airbase. And Leacross Landing, completed in 2021, is a 16-unit townhome neighbourhood in Orléans.
Next year, Habitat will also add two new homes to its older Nantes Street project of semi-detached homes in Orléans. It will be part of the organization’s $20 million in builds planned for 2026.
“We’re developing really tight-knit communities within communities,” says Cooper. “Because of the volunteering component that potential homeowners need to complete in order to get a Habitat home, we find, through different studies we’ve done, that they are extremely engaged citizens… They’re very involved with their neighbours and the community at large. I feel that’s an additional piece we can deliver to our community at large.”
Applications are now open for Beechcliffe Homes at habitatgo.com.
