GUYSBOROUGH COUNTY — Barely 21 months after holding its first meeting, Guysborough County’s first and only grassroots housing association says it’s moving into the most significant phase of its work to date, including prioritizing new projects for development.
“Some great things are happening,” said Community First co-founder and chair Nancy O’Regan in a phone interview with The Journal last week, noting that a new stage will shape the organization’s work across the county.
With planning nearing completion, the organization will soon shift its attention to selecting priority projects. O’Regan said the project opportunities committee is meeting this week to review a series of recommendations made by New Brunswick-based Pivot Housing Solutions’ Mylène Vincent before bringing them to the full board in December.
“We’ve reviewed our vision, purpose, and goals and made some adjustments to those,” she explained. “It was really focused on what we are, what our values are, what our goals are, what we’re working towards.”
Among the projects under consideration are an expansion of the Community First’s six-unit Boylston apartment building purchased earlier this year, a seniors housing development on land in Sherbrooke, a brand-new build at Cutler Estates in Guysborough, and a project in Canso that has been on the organization’s radar for several months. The Town of Mulgrave has also asked it to begin early consultation on a potential local housing initiative.
One of the organization’s major tasks was not only determining which regions of Guysborough County should be prioritized but population-specific initiatives as well, specifically: an Afrocentric housing project and potential housing developments connected to the Acadian community.
“Whatever we do, we will take into account the areas we want to focus on, and also the population groups that we want to target,” O’Regan said.
The discussion has also focused on groups that face other barriers in the current housing market. “We’ve talked a lot about who really needs housing… persons with disabilities, for persons experiencing intimate partner violence, for folks with mental health and addictions issues, and for seniors who want independent living but need some supports.”
O’Regan said the past several months have been focused on foundational work that will determine how the Community First moves into the next stage of housing development.
That includes a recently completed countywide housing needs assessment, the results of which she expects to release this week. A new website, designed to improve transparency and community engagement, is also ready to launch with a formal roll-out planned in the coming weeks.
O’Regan said that Pivot Housing’s Vincent has been key to guiding the organization through the new planning process, including completing a visioning session with community partners and tenants, which helped clarify purpose and long-term goals.
“There’s lots of potential,” O’Regan said. “It’s just really about deciding where do we start.”
