The changeover of social housing from the province to the local level has resulted in a hectic start to 2001 for the Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board and its staff.
As of Jan. 1, the DSSAB also took over complete control of the district’s public housing with little time to prepare.
“The Social Housing Reform Act wasn’t passed until Dec. 14 so over the holidays, while offices were closed, people have been trying to do the work,” DSSAB CAO Donna Dittaro noted.
All Ontario service boards must now decide how to manage public housing–directly or through an operator.
“In terms of public housing, the DSSAB now owns the properties. The DSSAB is like the sole stockholder of the housing corporation,” Dittaro explained.
The local board is likely to pursue direct management of the housing, which it said is more cost-efficient than maintaining an in-between housing authority.
“This DSSAB is very practical and they’d like to see it become a department of the DSSAB,” said Dittaro
The local board also must write a plan for budget administration of non-profit housing. The DSSAB is looking at hiring someone to help Dittaro write the plan in the time span allotted by the province.
“As of [Jan. 1], DSSAB has five months to develop a joint transfer plan for non-profit housing,” said Dittaro. “We’re just trying to negotiate with somebody to help write it.
“It’s going to be really busy in the next five months.”
The board had called a snap inaugural meeting back on Jan. 3 to deal with an in-camera item related to public housing. Also at that meeting, the first of this three-year term, new board members were sworn in.
Rainy River East rep Michael Lewis was sworn in as board chair along with Atikokan Mayor Dennis Brown as co-chair.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
