More housing for African Nova Scotians is coming to Loon Lake.

Eight rental units for working families are already under construction on Fannie Lane, with funding from all three levels of government.

Kathleen Mitchell, board president for Akoma Holdings, says it’s good to have housing for Black families in a Black community.

“It’s nice to have some well-developed and decent housing in an area, and there’s a school of schools. It’s everything that you need in this area. Everything’s attainable, like the schools are just around the corner,” said Mitchell.

The project includes two separate buildings. Each is a four-unit townhome. Two units will each have four bedrooms, and two will each have three bedrooms.

Funding from all three levels of government includes:

• $3.86 million from the federal government, through the Affordable Housing Fund
• $750,000 in forgivable loans from the Department of Growth & Development Nova Scotia
• $285,000 in contributions from the Halifax Regional Municipality through the Affordable Housing Grant Program

The homes will go to working families, although Akoma has not yet ironed out how people will apply or how they will choose the successful applicants.

The non-profit will also act as the landlord for the property, which means the units are non-market housing. Rents could be cheaper than the current high costs of housing in the market, but the rent would not be subsidized.

Sunday Miller, property consultant with Akoma Holdings, says they did a needs assessment in 2018 that showed people really wanted affordable homes in the area.

“The feeling is great, because we we know that there’s a major need,” said Miller. “It will give [working families] the opportunity to have their own home and and be in a community that they can actually sort of figure out how they want it to work and make it look,” said Miller.