District lands funds to fix up social housing

FORT FRANCES—Almost a quarter-of-a-million dollars to repair and maintain social housing units across the district has been given to the Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board by the provincial government.
“The province is recognizing that a lot of the buildings are starting to get older, and a lot of projects don’t have a lot of money to be able to do the capital work that needs to be done,” noted Sandra Weir, manager of non-profit housing for the DSSAB.
“So what they’ve done is this one-time funding, and to help us be able to distribute it for capital repairs in the district that are in most need, and, of course, they want to target the health and safety as number-one.”
The total amount—$248,239—comes out of the $100 million that was earmarked in the 2008 provincial budget for capital repairs of social housing across Ontario.
Allotment of the $100 million was determined based on the number of social housing units each district had.
Capital refers to the “bricks and mortar” of the building, explained Weir. Possible repairs to existing non-profit housing includes things like structural repairs, wiring, roofing, and mould and pest control, she said.
“We’re trying to target the most urgent health and safety issues,” Weir stressed.
Under the province’s guidelines, the funding also can be directed towards improving the energy efficiency of existing units.
This could include things like making energy-efficient appliances accessible, furnace replacements, water usage improvements, and electrical upgrades, noted Weir.
“A lot of these buildings were built years and years ago, so you’re looking at a lot of dollars being spent in electricity to help keep them heated or lit,” she said.
“They’re absorbing a lot of electricity, which is a lot of costs.
“So [the government is] really trying to help these providers get out of some of the old equipment that they might be using, to help them save dollars really in the long run, because then they don’t have the high cost of electricity, which is a big concern to a lot of these buildings,” she added.
Funding for this type of maintenance is significant, said DSSAB CAO Donna Dittaro.
“This is so exciting to have this opportunity because if there’s health and safety issues, we’ve got to get at those and we have to address them,” she remarked.
Finding money for maintenance and repairs has been a challenge, admitted Dittaro, especially after the provincial government transferred 299 social housing units into the local DSSAB’s care back in 2001.
While under provincial management, those running the housing were able to receive annual funding for maintenance directly from the government, noted Dittaro—something that stopped after the units were transferred.
“So we basically got that whole portfolio, almost 300 units, with no money in reserve for repair, nothing,” she explained.
“We’ve had to basically try to maintain that portfolio within our existing budget,” she added. “It’s been challenging, so this is really welcome.”
The exact breakdown of how the funding will be distributed across the district has yet to be finalized.
“What we have done is we have sent out letters to all our non-profit housing providers and we are asking everyone to submit what their needs are for the housing units, and that’s how we will help designate where these dollars will go amongst the district,” said Weir.
The local DSSAB has to provide the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing with an outline of how the money will be spent by September.
(Fort Frances Times)