The Antigonish Affordable Housing Society’s (AAHS) Housing for Hope initiative is in the running for the 2017 national Aviva Community Fund competition. Our proposal to build a Community Room in Phase 2 of our Riverside Estates development has just been accepted by Aviva Canada for its annual online competition.
A Community Room is one of three key ingredients in the Society’s vision of creating affordable housing that is socially inclusive, as well as environmentally and financially sustainable. The other two ingredients — the Community Navigator position and Tenant Advisory Group — have been in place since we opened our first four units in April 2017. Another 10 units are planned for Phase 2 once funding is secured.
The Community Room will create a space for tenants to meet, an office for the Navigator, and opportunities to build relationships with the broader Antigonish community through hosting social and educational events at Riverside Estates.
AAHS Chair Colleen Cameron said, “We’ll be asking everyone we know to consider using all 18 of their votes to support our initiative. Housing for Hope is about more than just building a structure for people to live in. We are building homes for our tenants and caring communities that recognize the importance of enabling people who live on low incomes and/or with disabilities to fully participate in shaping their own futures, and to feel pride in their homes and the community they have created around them”
Online voting in the Aviva competition will take place from October 10-19. Aviva Canada has given away $1 million each year since 2009 in support of the causes Canadians care about most.
For more information about Housing for Hope visit http://www.housingforhope.ca