Cohabitat Wakefield takes giant leap toward housing project

By Trevor Greenway

One major barrier that the volunteers at Cohabitat Wakefield repeatedly encountered when trying to build their 41-unit cooperative housing project in the village was the lack of land. 

The lack of land left the group spinning its tires. They couldn’t apply for grants, conduct environmental, geotechnical, or hydrology studies, or present a feasibility study to show how crucial a cooperative housing model is in Wakefield, which lacks rental properties and has skyrocketing housing prices. 

But the project got traction after the municipality of La Pêche stepped up and donated 2.5 acres of prime land just behind the Wakefield Fire Hall and former car wash. 

“We were excited like you wouldn’t believe,” said Cohabitat Wakefield president Louise Chatelain, standing with co-volunteer Francine Costa in front of the land that will soon be the home of Cohabitat Wakefield. The land is rocky and heavily forested, and it will take much work to clear it and make it buildable, but the group is determined.  

 “We have a feasibility study that just got out in January this year,” added Chatelain. “The goal of having a feasibility study was to first of all demonstrate that affordable housing was absolutely an issue. It is an issue across Canada, but there’s no rental here at all.”

She isn’t wrong. According to the Association Provinciale Des Constructeurs D’Habitation Du Québec (APCHQ), in 2023, there was a shortfall of 15,000 rental units in Quebec. That number has likely risen over the past two years, especially with the Quebec rental board setting the 2025 rent increase to 5.9 per cent, the highest it has been in three decades. 

Locally, the stats are even more dire. A 2021 report by La Table de développement social des Collines-de-l’Outaouais (TDSCO) shows a significant divide between homeowners and those who rent in the region, where 31.6 per cent of renters in the MRC des Collines spend more than 30 per cent of their income on housing, while just 13 per cent of those who own their homes spend as much on their homes. Of the 835 residents surveyed, most identified a lack of housing diversity, a lack of affordable housing and housing conditions as the top three issues facing the region. The report also found that more than 3,000 residents, or 15 per cent of the MRC des Collines population, are spending more than 30 per cent of their income on housing – the 30 per cent benchmark set by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) as “affordable.”

“It’s a universal need and when you realize it’s not being met by so many people – think about older folks that have been here forever, and they are alone in a big house – they are forced to move out; they can’t stay here anymore, and they really lose that connection to where they grew up and where they raised their family,” added Costa. “The question that we all ask ourselves as we age is, ‘Where am I going to end up? What do I want to do with this part of my life?’ And you know, a lot of the co-founders are already in their, I would say, 60s.”

The group will now use this feasibility study to approach “the big funders” in the hopes of getting the entire project 100 per cent funded through CMHC’s Co-op Housing Development Program, which received a $1.5 billion boost from the 2022 and 2023 Fall Economic Statements. If successful, the project could receive top-to-bottom funding from the federal government and, if all goes according to plan, be built within the next two years. 

While the housing project may be a drop in the bucket in the global housing crisis, the projected 41 units built in Wakefield will make a difference locally. The shared space will boast private dwellings for multigenerational families—single moms and dads, elderly folks, young families, and everyone in between. The project will also include shared recreational and kitchen spaces to encourage neighbourly connections among residents.

“Of course, we need our own space, but we also need a place to connect with people,” said Chatelaine. She added that the exterior space will be landscaped with lit pathways and common areas to increase the frequency of “spontaneous encounters.” 

“Often when you leave your house, you don’t see your neighbours; you just come out of your driveway there, and that’s it,” added Chatelaine. “But by having these pathways, we will connect with each other to have spontaneous encounters.”

Mayor Guillaume Lamoureux said that his council is fully behind Cohabitat and added that the group has received nearly $30,000 in grants from the municipality’s green fund. 

“It’s important because it’s one of the ways the housing shortage can be addressed in La Pêche,” said Lamoureux. “Council welcomes any opportunities to work with organizations like Cohabitat Wakefield or the Office de l’habitation de l’Outaouais.”

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