Case study: Sustainable homes, stronger community

Summary  

Facing an affordable housing crisis and rising to the challenge of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, Waterloo Region Housing (WRH) has undertaken its first net-zero community housing build. Winning a 2024 Sustainable Communities Award, the project features a variety of energy-efficient design elements as well as tenant amenity spaces to foster a sense of community.

Background

Located in Southern Ontario, the Waterloo Region contains the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo along with townships of North Dumfries, Wellesley, Wilmot and Woolwich. It is a rapidly growing region, with a current population of more than 630,000 people.

There is a long waitlist for affordable housing in Waterloo Region, with approximately 9,000 low-income households currently awaiting community housing. Recognizing the urgency of this situation, Waterloo’s Regional Council approved the WRH Revitalization Plan in 2019. It maps out a 20-year timeline to create at least 600 new community housing units.

Waterloo Region also crafted a community-developed strategy, called the Transform WR Action Strategy, to reduce local GHG emissions by 80 percent by 2050. The strategy states that, “By 2050, businesses and homes no longer use fossil fuels for space heating and cooling, and hot water heating.” Moving forward, all new community housing builds will aim for Canada’s Green Building Council’s Zero Carbon Building - Design Standard certification.

The challenge

As the Region prepared to break ground on its newest community housing development at 420 Kingscourt Drive, they had no previous experience constructing new net-zero buildings. There were concerns regarding how best to attract the right contractors, with fears that the ambitious energy efficiency plans might scare some away. 

Additionally, households with lower incomes may struggle to afford energy costs and often face barriers to accessing more sustainable energy technologies like geothermal heating and cooling, solar power, or smart thermostats. Waterloo Region was committed to ensuring these households were not left behind in the transition away from fossil fuels.

“Everyone deserves a place to call home. We are working hard not just to build homes across the Region of Waterloo, but also to be responsible stewards of the environment as we grow. 420 Kingscourt is a proud example of the care Region staff have put into creating homes that serve this community. These energy-efficient projects help us build what we need for today and tomorrow.”

- Regional Chair Karen Redman, Region of Waterloo

Approach

WRH’s 420 Kingscourt Drive blends affordability with thoughtful design, offering a mix of income-geared rent, below average market rent and low-end market rent. Situated on the same site as WRH’s existing 416 Kingscourt Drive building, WRH made sure to utilize existing regional land and prioritize engagement with the existing tenants throughout the development process, ensuring their voices were heard and their needs addressed. This was done primarily through virtual meetings led by both regional staff and City councillors.  

The building has 73 units, ranging in size from one to five bedrooms, with 19 units designed with enhanced accessibility. In addition to comfortable living spaces, the project brings people together with three inviting resident amenity spaces, including a spacious 2,125-square-foot seniors services programming area.

Environmental considerations were critical throughout the design process, incorporating energy-efficient building technologies and practices that will reduce energy consumption, enhance indoor environment quality and lower energy costs for the tenants. Key features include:

• ground-source heat pumps connected to an open-loop geothermal system with integrated Energy Recovery Ventilators
• triple glazed high performance vinyl windows
• low-flow Domestic Hot Water fixtures
• LED lighting systems
• solar PV panels
• meter to track water and energy consumption of individual units and the building as a whole

This project is also piloting a Community Benefits Program to help recruit, engage and retain a diverse construction labour force. The program creates opportunities for individuals from groups traditionally underrepresented in the industry.

Benefits and results

The 420 Kingscourt project is expected to be completed in summer 2025. Anticipated outcomes are as follows.

Environmental:

• The building’s GHG emissions are 47.1% below the 2015 National Energy Code for Buildings (NECB) standards.  
• The project’s roof-mounted solar panels are estimated to generate 111.9MWh of green electricity per year, enough to power 10 average households.
• The design of this building will result in a net annual total energy use intensity (TEUI) of 77.4 kWh/m2, versus the Canadian residential building average of 181 kWh/m2 per year.  
• Waterloo region is now pursuing Zero Carbon Building V2–Design Standard certification by the Canada Green Building Council, recognizing their efforts to help combat climate change by designing a building with low carbon emissions.

Economic:

• Housing expenses for those living in rent-geared-to-income units (1/3 of all units) will remain at an affordable 30% of tenants’ income for the long term.  
• Approximately $54,000 in energy costs will be saved annually through energy-efficient design.  
• Tenants will also benefit from reduced energy costs as a result of the building’s efficiency, paying a flat fee for both water and electricity.  

Social:  

• 73 households with various levels of income will have a comfortable, energy-efficient home near public transportation corridors.
• Two people have been trained in construction through the Community Benefits Program. One has now entered a unionized skilled trade.

Lessons learned

• Tenants are the experts of their communities and know what works and what can be improved. Feedback from this project resulted in the development of Tenant Liaison Committees for subsequent WRH builds, where tenant volunteers will be part of the early design process.  
• Ensuring there is a clear vision for the design before opening bidding to contractors will help attract the right talent.  
• Consulting with the people who will be running the building early on is crucial to ensuring both its longevity and end-user comfort.
• Building a net-zero affordable housing project is not only possible, but less challenging than anticipated despite an initial lack of experience.

Next steps  

This was the first of six affordable housing redevelopment projects for the region. Project data will be used to inform the direction of future builds, with a focus on early tenant engagement.