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Affordable Housing in Peterborough Soars to New Heights with CMHA HKPR’s First Garden Home

On Tuesday, October 1st, the Canadian Mental Health Association Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge’s (CMHA HKPR’s) first Garden Home arrived in Peterborough. The home marks the first Garden Home established by a social agency to exist in Peterborough and the project aims to demonstrate how we can creatively increase affordable housing options in our region.

The Garden Home is a prefabricated 480 square-foot house that includes a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, and laundry facilities. Designed by Toronto-based company, Metrosuite, the home was built in Montreal and then made the 460 km trek to Peterborough on a flatbed truck.

Once the home arrived, it was hoisted up (in two parts) by a crane and lowered onto the foundation awaiting the home, which sits in the backyard of a CMHA HKPR-owned rental property on Park Street. The entire maneuver took a team of skilled crane and heavy equipment operators and was complete within four hours.

The delivery of the home marks a monumental step for CMHA HKPR’s Supportive Housing Team as well as the Metrosuite team, with this being their first Garden Home delivery. The project has been over three years in the making and is a collaboration between CMHA HKPR and Metrosuite with significant support from the City of Peterborough’s Building and Planning Department.

The project is funded through support from the United Way Peterborugh & District as well as fundraising events such as Wild Rock Outfitters Ski-Relay and Change the Cycle 2023. This project was also made possible through the support of donors such as the Peterborough and Kawartha Realtor Estate Association.

Change the Cycle 2023

Wild Rock Outfitters Ski Relay

The Garden Home is capable of housing either an individual or a couple and will become home to a CMHA HKPR Supportive Housing client or clients. The goal is that this home is a steppingstone on the clients’ recovery journey and will give them more independence in their housing.

CMHA HKPR hopes that this project will act as a ‘demonstration project,’ and encourage more homeowners to emulate Garden Homes on their properties, creating more affordable housing in Peterborough and beyond. 

For CMHA HKPR, this is just the first Garden Home and we have plans to extend this project to our other properties and regions, including Kawartha Lakes. 

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