Shahroze Akram and his family have lived in Ottawa’s west-end for the last seven years. Photo: Submitted by Akram.
A shopping mall, public schools, and a community centre all within a few steps from each other – it’s what a small area in Ottawa’s west-end has to offer, and newcomers seem to be catching on.
A small residential area adjacent to Bayshore Mall, Ottawa’s second-largest shopping centre, has seen the greatest increase in newcomers, with over 1,100 recent immigrants calling the small division of Ottawa’s west-end home, according to an analysis of data provided by Statistics Canada.
The area mostly encompasses a collection of apartment buildings and townhomes under the umbrella of Accora Village, which is owned by Ferguslea Properties Limited. The properties are scattered around Woodridge Crescent – where Shahroze Akram and his family have lived for the last seven years.
“At the time [of us moving], Bayshore was mainly popular because there were a lot of our community that used to live here,” Akram, who is Pakistani-Canadian, said. “Naturally you want to move somewhere where there is a lot of your community, but there was also ease of access to a lot of things.”
Akram said having a grocery store, a shopping mall, and a major bus station nearby makes his neighbourhood a convenient place to live for any newcomer. But the area is particularly attractive for the Muslim community, he said.
A significant Muslim population has lived in the area for years, Akram said, making it a safe haven for other Muslims who wish to find a place in Ottawa to call home. The nearest mosque, he added, is only a four-minute car ride away.
“Life here is just a little bit easier to integrate into Ottawa overall,” he said.
An interactive map showing the number of recent immigrants that settled into Ottawa, using data compiled from Statistics Canada’s 2016 census. The areas in yellow signify the hotspots for the largest number of recent immigrants, while the areas in pink signify the lowest. View larger map
Basia Mair, the settlement counsellor at Ottawa-Carleton Immigrant Services Organization, said the Accora Village area has always been a hotspot for newcomers, mainly due to word-of-mouth.
“[Newcomers] hear good things about the place … Some people recommend it to their friends if they are happy and their home is at a reasonable price,” Mair said.
Tina Fisher, spokesperson for Accora Village, said via email that the company does not gather data on the background of their residents, but their properties “are a community of diverse residents, from many backgrounds and demographics.”
As for average cost of rental, Fisher said Accora Village’s “price point is not the lowest in the marketplace,” reflecting a higher lifestyle and service offerings.
According to the Village’s website, average monthly rent for a three-bedroom home is $1,500 to $1,700 a month. Most of these larger-family homes are currently occupied, with a waitlist system currently set in place for those who wish to move-in.
Mair said cost of rent is the bottom-line for any immigrant family wishing to get settled in the city. And while Accora Village is attracting the largest amount of newcomers, Mair said other pockets within the city have seen significant increases as well, mainly in Kanata and Merivale.
The data is in line with Mair’s comments, showing an increase of more than 600 recent immigrants settling further east in Kanata, and more than 530 settling inwards into the city near Merivale.
But for Akram, while his home in Accora Village isn’t considered the most affordable, his family’s bottom-line has always been a sense of community they aren’t able to find elsewhere in the city.
He added this sentiment is echoed by the new neighbours he meets regularly, who are now choosing to live in the rental area long term, as opposed to paying monthly mortgage and moving elsewhere.
“They consider [this area] a safer community, because they have a lot of their people here,” Akram said.