Mosaic House to provide affordable housing in Stouffville

By David Yin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

York Region and Housing York Inc. (HYI) invited media to a recent grand opening celebration for Mosaic House, its newest community housing building.

Several people attended the event, including Stouffville Mayor Iain Lovatt; York Region CEO Eric Jolliffe; MPP Graydon Smith, associate minister of municipal affairs and housing; Lisa Gonsalves, regional commissioner for community health services; and members of various non-profit organizations.

Lovatt, Smith, and Gonsalves provided opening remarks, noting that Mosaic House was a joint collaboration among the municipal, provincial, and federal levels of government. Afterwards, attendees went through a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a tour of the entire building.

Joshua Scholten, director of housing operations at York Region, said that during the tour, Mosaic House’s first tenant provided attendees a look into her own apartment. He also said that attendees visited the common facility room, unfinished spaces for free future regional services, and the building’s rooftop patio.

Mosaic House – HYI’s newest building – is located at 5676 Main St. in Stouffville. It has 97 new apartments, with 70 per cent of them being subsidized and the rest renting out at market price.

Apartments contain a mix of one, two, and three-bedroom units, with 19 of them also being barrier-free accessible units. The building also comes with surface parking, commercial spaces, an outdoor playground, and pay-per-use laundry facilities.

Tenants began moving in last March. Scholten said that the building has been fully occupied since June.

York Region declared having a housing affordability crisis in 2021.

Scholten said that there were over 18,400 households on HYI’s subsidized housing wait list by the end of 2024 – a 17 per cent increase from 2023. In addition, he said that almost 50,000 households pay over 30 per cent of their income on housing, more than any other region in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.

About 3,200 households on HYI’s waitlist identified Stouffville as an ideal location when the region was determining where to build Mosaic House.

“It’s a fantastic site,” Scholten said. “It’s located really close to lots of amenities. It’s got a grocery store right next door. It’s got a Tim Hortons really close to it. It’s got a huge plaza right across the street.”

Although Mosaic House cannot house everyone on the wait list, Scholten said that York Region is pursuing five other projects to provide over 1,300 units of new community housing across the region.

In addition, the region has funded up to $10.2 million in 2023 and 2024 combined for other housing developments through its Community Housing Supply Grant Program, while also providing financial assistance for several residents through the Canadian Ontario Housing Benefit.

As for Mosaic House, Scholten said that York Region plans to build more subsidized and market rental units by developing the adjacent property to the east.

“I hope for these tenants to be secure in that they have a home with Housing York Inc. and can feel and develop part of a community at Mosaic House, as well as a community that extends beyond,” Scholten said.

To learn more about HYI, head to www.york.ca/support/housing.

Photo: York Region CEO Eric Jolliffe, Associate Minister of Housing Graydon Smith, and Mayor Iain Lovatt (centre) at the Mosaic House grand opening event.