A longstanding new church/affordable housing development received its occupancy permits in December. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

new era

‘It’s a very exciting shift:’ substantial affordable housing/Brechin United Church development opens

Apr 3, 2023 | 5:22 AM

NANAIMO — A vision many years in the making has at last come to fruition for Brechin United Church.

Following a lengthy planning and extended construction process, a new congregation and attached affordable rental housing complex opened in December at 2020 Estevan Rd., replacing an iconic A-frame structure built in the late 1950’s.

Minister Tif McNaughton was hired in her role to lead the congregation in the summer of 2019. She was attracted to the idea of helping lead the church into its innovative new era.

“These folks had done a lot of soul-searching as a community, a lot of work to arrive at the conclusion that they wanted to do something radically different with their space and they wanted to offer something useful in the community in a whole new way,” McNaughton told NanaimoNewsNOW during a recent site visit.

A five-storey 74-unit rental housing complex, featuring affordable housing and market rental stock, is attached to the church, providing a more efficient use of the triangular shaped lot.

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An unexpected mid-construction delay saw a new primary contractor hired to finish the job.

Finishing the BC Housing financed project was pushed back back several years, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brechin United Church re-opened four-and-a-half years after the old A-framed facility was torn down in June 2018.

The old Brechin United Church was an iconic landmark in Nanaimo for decades. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

“It’s a very exciting shift, absolutely,” McNaughton said. “You can kind of feeling in the bones of the place that you can finally settle in and be neighbours.”

Valerie Neilson, co-chair of the church’s redevelopment team, said the congregation with guidance from the provincial body had examined various ways to evolve into a more sustainable future.

She said the housing and congregation run as two separate entities, and while people living on site have no obligation to be affiliated with the church, some residents now attend Sunday worship and other on-site functions.

Events such as weekly yoga classes are offered by donation, while Neilsen said they intend to attract private user groups to rent their space for meetings and events to their fully accessible site.

“All of our church space, 7,500 square feet is all on one level, there’s no steps anywhere. People can get in and out of all of these rooms and do it really easily,” Nielson said.

The Passive House design standard offers environmental and cost saving features.

An air-tight building envelope, triple-paned windows and internal heat exchange system is appreciated, Nielson said.

“The residences should be seeing very, very meager hydro bills. That’s one of the really good features.”

A building tenant who didn’t want to be identified called living at 2020 Estevan Rd. “life-changing” compared to her prior unsafe rental unit.

The United Church of Canada reported half of the building’s tenants pay under the rent geared to income model, meaning their monthly rent is 30 per cent of their income.

A deep subsidy is provided for 20 per cent of the units ($375 monthly) and the remaining 30 per cent of the units are market based rentals starting from $1,345 for a one bedroom.

Lease agreements are pending for two of the remaining units.

Most of the building’s units are one and two bedroom suites.

Brechin United Church is hosting an official grand opening ceremony on Saturday, April 29 at 12 p.m.

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ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes