Listen to this article

Estimated 3 minutes

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.

Part of an innovative and affordable housing development being built on the outskirts of Antigonish, N.S., will include second-stage housing for women and children in the region fleeing violence.

An official with a local social services organization is hopeful that will help address an increasing need in Antigonish and Guysborough counties.

“In the first six months of our fiscal year, which starts April 1, we’ve already seen and interacted with 225 clients,” said Patrick McKenna, the fund and housing co-ordinator for the Naomi Society, which helps individuals experiencing or fleeing intimate partner violence.

The Antigonish development was conceived more than two years ago when Dr. Amy Hendricks and her husband Paul Davie purchased an 18-hectare property to build a medical centre.

Hendricks, an internal medicine specialist at St. Martha’s Regional Hospital in Antigonish, had for years been hearing during staff meetings about space issues and a lack of affordable housing.

Knowing the property was much larger than the space they required, the couple gifted a sizable chunk of it to the Canadian Association of Community Living Antigonish, the Antigonish Affordable Housing Society and the Naomi Society.

Hendricks said creating partnerships was always the intention.

“The idea [was] that this space is meant to be an outgrowth of the community, it’s just on the edge of town, it’s meant to be shared,” she said.

Construction of the medical centre building is progressing, with occupants expected to start moving in by early summer in 2026. The building includes ground-floor offices, three apartments on the second level and a community space on the top floor for things like music and performance rehearsals.

Providing options

Construction of the second-stage housing component is set to begin late in the summer, with 10 to 12 units planned. That would dramatically increase the housing capacity of the Naomi Society, which currently has only two units.

One of the main reasons people affected by violence stay in relationships is because there is no alternative housing. 

McKenna said the units created here will provide people with options they might not otherwise have.

“When women flee, they can come to our units, they can learn and grow and safely recover in a safe space and then move on to affordable housing or to market rentals or home ownership.”

Patrick McKenna is the Naomi Society’s fund and housing co-ordinator. (Dave Laughlin/CBC)

Addresses the gap

The Antigonish Affordable Housing Society hopes the project will help make a dent in the housing shortage in the town. 

Society chair Colleen Cameron told CBC News there are a lot of callers each time there’s an opening in one of their 48 units. 

She said the 140 or so units that will be built as part of this development will not only address the need for housing in the area but will help create a community. 

While construction of the affordable housing units hasn’t begun, Cameron said it’s exciting to see the progress on the medical centre and the site unfold.

“It’s coming together,” she said. “This is going to be a beautiful community.”

MORE TOP STORIES