Since 1977, HomeEd has been providing quality, affordable homes for Edmontonians. Today, thousands of people live in the more-than-1,300 apartments and townhomes their non-profit housing corporation manages, and their goal is to make each of them feel like a welcome member of a caring community. With their upcoming mixed market townhouse development in the Griesbach neighbourhood, called Parkside North, the group’s goal is the same – but it’s not their only goal. With Parkside North, they also aim to contribute to a more sustainable future, as the homes are being constructed to target a zero carbon performance standard, meaning they will generate approximately as much energy as they use. Jonathon Lay, HomeEd’s vice president of projects, says that targeting zero carbon certification is important for two primary reasons. Firstly, when the project commenced, the City of Edmonton had recently declared a climate emergency – and HomeEd is owned by the city, “so our goals need to be aligned with those of our shareholder,” Jonathon says. Secondly, a key part of HomeEd’s mandate is affordability. That means keeping rents at market rate or below market rate, but just as importantly, it means making homes that are affordable to operate. “When we look at the total cost that our tenants have to pay, that includes not just their base rent, but also the cost of their utilities,” Jonathon explains. “We have the ability to lower the cost of utilities by having a higher performing building that uses less energy and is more sustainable in the long-term. It just makes sense to go that way.” Jonathon Lay has personally been with HomeEd since 2021. He was the first hire by Nick Lilley, who was appointed CEO earlier that year. Prior to that time, HomeEd was primarily a property management company, but Nick took over with a mandate to grow in order to better respond to the city’s need for affordable housing. In order to achieve that growth, they figured it wasn’t enough to acquire and rehabilitate assets. They still needed to do that – and indeed, HomeEd has acquired a number of assets and invested heavily in major rehabs and retrofits over the last few years – but they also needed to do more. They decided they needed to move into the development space. Parkside North is one of the outcomes of that decision. FEBRUARY 2025
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTYzNTg=