257 King William Development

New CityHousing building addresses encampment-related homelessness

December 16, 2024
By: Connor Jay, Communications Coordinator

In November 2024, CityHousing Hamilton began welcoming tenants to its new building at 257 King William St. in downtown Hamilton. This 24-unit building provides safe and stable homes for Black, Indigenous, and other racialized individuals experiencing homelessness and facing systemic barriers to housing. These deeply affordable and supportive units are operated by Indwell, which will deliver wrap-around support like counselling, and addictions and mental health programming.  

 

Image credit: DroneFX Media

 

This award-winning modular building was factory-built unit-by-unit and assembled on site, leveraging quality control through prefabricated production to meet an accelerated timeline. 257 King William is Passive House certified, providing a modern, energy-efficient solution to address the housing and health needs of individuals experiencing homelessness.  

This development represents a capital investment of more than $14 million from the federal government and the City of Hamilton. A breakdown of funding includes:  

• $6.47 million from the federal government through the second round of the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI2) that was previously announced in 2022. 

• $1.9 million from the Canada–Ontario Community Housing Initiative (COCHI). 

• $1.4 million annually from the City of Hamilton to provide supports and rent subsidies. 

This project represents a prime example of a sensitive infill development replacing an existing under-utilized surface parking lot to increase Hamilton’s affordable housing supply.