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HUNTSVILLE, ONT. — The Muskoka Community Land Trust (MCLT) has officially broken ground on its first housing initiative, which will bring 150 affordable homes to the area.

The 7.5 acre lot on 40 Florence St. W., donated by the Town of Huntsville, will evolve in three phases using a mass timber floor and wall panel system, explains a release.

Phase one is a four-storey, 47-unit apartment building, including 30 one-bedroom units, 14 two-bedroom units and three, three-bedroom units. Eleven of the phase one units are barrier-free.

Phase two will add an adjacent four-storey, 60-unit mass-timber building, and the final phase will bring a three- to five-storey, 43-unit mass-timber building.

At the centre of the development will be a community common, including an amenity building and park space, the release notes.

Phase one Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ is slated for completion and occupancy by December 2027.

Forty per cent of the homes across the development are permanently affordable because they are removed from the private real estate market, the land held in trust by MCLT and designated as non-market housing.

The release states Huntsville has a higher share of lower-to-modest income households than the rest of Ontario with 55.3 per cent priced out of local real estate.

MCLT’s work on the Florence Street lands dates back to 2022, with community engagement, planning, technical studies and development work continuing over the years.

The development has an approved maximum building height of 14 metres, but the buildings are designed to sit below the mature tree canopy that surrounds the site and preserves the natural foliage, the release explains. A detailed tree protection plan is in place so that most of the land will remain as greenspace.

The District of Muskoka has provided $629,000 towards the project to date, with an additional $1.3 million committed through the Muskoka Affordable Housing Initiatives Program.

The Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario has contributed more than $519,000 and Muskoka Futures is providing a conditional $300,000 loan.

The project has also been conditionally approved for funding through Natural Resources Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­’s Green Construction Through Wood Program, with a specific funding commitment expected soon, the release adds.