KEMPTVILLE -- Eleven new units are now available for families at a new affordable housing project in Kemptville.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for a number of residents who have been waiting a long time to have a facility like this," said MPP Steve Clark, Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

"There are 11 units inside this townhouse complex. Three of them are fully wheelchair accessible with barrier free access, lower counters and switches and roll in showers."

Spearheaded by Community Living North Grenville, the new complex on Jack Street is a mix of one, two and three-bedroom units. It is composed of a renovated deplex and three newly constructed townhomes.

"When the Affordable Housing Task Force looked at rates for rental units in North Grenville, the average price for a rental unit for a two bedroom was between $1,400 to $1,800 dollars," said North Grenville Mayor Nancy Peckford.

"Our units here are set up as affordable housing rent, which is 80 per cent of average market rent," said Sandra McNamara, Executive Director of Community Living, North Grenville.

"Average market rent is defined by the United Counties on an annual basis, and as of the July 2020 rates, a two-bedroom here would go for $880 dollars.”

Peckford adds, "The market rental rate in this community is skyrocketing and its making housing unattainable and it means it’s forcing people out of the community to access not for profit housing in Brockville or Prescott.”

Peckford says there is a lack of affordable housing in the community and that the municipality has "some significant catching up to do when it comes to the availability of housing that is deemed affordable."

Both the federal and provincial governments provided nearly $1.5 million for the project. As of Sept. 1, ten of the 11 units had been rented.

Funding for the project was delivered through the Social Infrastructure Fund and the investment in Affordable Housing Program.