New Dawn non-profit housing strategy
Happy Cities helped New Dawn Enterprises develop a housing strategy that will help to meet housing demands in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
An aerial view of Pine Tree Park, proposing a community-oriented neighbourhood that provides affordable housing and relies on renewable energy. (Happy Cities)
Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) has seen a sharp increase in the demand for affordable housing in recent years, due to an increased need for student housing and an increase in people moving to the region.
Based in Cape Breton, New Dawn Enterprises is a non-profit, volunteer-driven social enterprise dedicated to community building. Since the 1970s, New Dawn has been delivering housing and mixed-use properties across Cape Breton. The organization is approached with housing and development opportunities on a regular basis, but did not have a clear vision or strategic direction for its real estate operations.
New Dawn engaged Purpose Driven Development and Happy Cities to develop a housing strategy that could help the organization meet the growing community need for affordable and sustainable housing. Funded through a Community Housing Transformation Centre Nova Scotia Community Housing Growth Fund grant, Happy Cities worked with New Dawn on two initiatives: a housing strategy, and a redevelopment proposal for its Pine Tree Park property.
A real estate vision for New Dawn
Happy Cities led a series of workshops with the New Dawn board and senior staff to identify the organization’s key priorities, values, and vision, as well as explore funding and development opportunities. Through this visioning process, we created a vision for a mixed-income model that would achieve long-term financial sustainability for the organization and house residents across the housing continuum in the Cape Breton region.
Pine Tree Park development strategy
One of the key recommendations during the visioning process was to explore moving forward with the redevelopment of Pine Tree Park, a large, 82-acre site near Sydney, Nova Scotia. The site is home to a mix of aging commercial buildings and homes, as well as a solar energy system.
The existing Pine Tree Park site located near Sydney, Nova Scotia. (New Dawn Enterprises)
Happy Cities worked with New Dawn to produce a development strategy for Pine Tree Park, including development goals, a community vision, and detailed funding and financing strategy. We also designed a master plan for Pine Tree Park that includes:
185 new homes
Six types of missing middle housing
Over six acres of programmable green space
A variety of commercial and community spaces
Promoting sustainable and renewable energy in its design
Redeveloping the guest house and church
Generating revenue from market housing to subsidize affordable units
The project is intended to be built out by 2031.
The six defined housing typologies for Pine Tree Park. The proposed housing types respond to local context, market demand, and opportunities to provide diverse housing that supports wellbeing. (Happy Cities)
