Royal Premier Homes is constructing an eight-storey, 170 unit, apartment building at 801 Sarnia Rd. that will include 17 highly-affordable units renting at just $990 per month for the next 10 years. “We’re from London. We’re building London,” explained V.P. Dimen Noory. “We really like to make positive commitments, (and) positive attributes to anything that we do in our builds.” On Tuesday, Royal Premier Homes held an event at the construction site to announce its commitment that 10 per cent of the units in the building will be highly-affordable housing. Jared Zaifman, CEO of the London Home Builders Association (LHBA) says its members are aware of the growing demand for very affordable units. “The challenge for our members is simply the cost to build these days has escalated so much that, unfortunately, trying to create units that are below $1,000 to rent per month is very challenging,” Zaifman told CTV News. Mayor Josh Morgan said a decision by city council earlier this term that allowed developers to stack financial incentives for affordable units together was crucial. “We said to (city) staff, we’ve got to align the Dollars for Doors program with the CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) incentives,” Morgan explained. “When you put those two things together, you can actually drive a deeper level of affordability than what we’ve been seeing across the city.” Zaifman agreed that it takes coordination by all three levels of government, “Seeing close to 20 units here in this building is really amazing, but it wouldn’t happen without the partnership with the city, with the province, and with the federal government. Royal Premier Homes began constructing single family homes over 20 years ago, and more recently started constructing townhomes. The building on Sarnia Road is their first venture into apartment buildings. “It’s going to be oriented to all renting groups, so we’re happy to welcome everyone when the doors open,” Noory said. Construction is on schedule to have tenants begin moving in by next September.
