City's summer blitz found few affordable homes

Efforts to assist homeless find affordable rental units continue despite slow start

A blitz announced in August to find homes for 100 low-income individuals and families by Oct. 1 resulted in only four people moving into rental units as colder weather sweeps into the nation's capital and more homeless fear using emergency shelters during a global pandemic.

“This has been tough and we didn't get the results yet that we want to see,” Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa executive director Kaite Burkholder Harris said Tuesday.

“We're going to keep going to make sure that we're using those (rent) subsidies and supporting people, but also, we have to keep trying everything. Nothing can be not tested in order to try to have a housing-focused response.”

The Alliance to End Homelessness and the City of Ottawa announced on Aug. 10 that they were on the hunt for 100 affordable units with an end-of-September deadline, hoping to provide more homes to low-income people before a second wave of COVID-19. The priority was to house prospective tenants who qualified for rent subsidies and were ready to move.

The Eastern Ontario Landlord Association (EOLO) helped find property owners with vacant units for rent.

The blitz largely depended on the availability of units and the willingness of landlords to participate.

But according to EOLO executive director John Dickie, the timing of the blitz wasn't ideal.

“The whole notion of trying to do something in housing in two months was a concept that I could have predicted would not have worked well,” Dickie said.

Anyone who rents a unit knows there's a mandatory 60-day notice period to landlords before vacating. Announcing the blitz more than a week into August realistically, but still optimistically, put in play units that would be available in October or November.

Another problem has been the types of rental units that have seen increased vacancies during the pandemic. Dickie said those homes have been more higher-end units that wouldn't align with the affordability requirements for low-income tenants.

Adding to the complications, landlords want to sign a new tenant quickly when a unit becomes vacant. Waiting for agencies to find tenants and confirm subsidies doesn't respond to the speed of business, Dickie said.

The blitz might not have achieved the difficult goal, but Dickie said the success of finding people homes should still be recognized. “I don't care if it's 10 or 35 people. To them, this isn't a failure,” he said.

While only four people received affordable units in the blitz period, Burkholder Harris said there are about 30 more households in the pipeline for rental homes.

On top of that, the blitz has provided an infrastructure that could be used to inform a long-term housing procurement with the private sector, Burkholder Harris said.

Burkholder Harris said organizers will consider extending the blitz through October.

In launching the blitz in August, Burkholder Harris said the Alliance and the city were taking a reputational risk with setting an ambitious goal.

“I absolutely think it's been tough,” Burkholder Harris said Thursday. “I feel sad because we don't have enough people housed. We never have enough people housed and that's the critical part. We're going to get people housed because the subsidies are still there after the blitz. I think what has been hard and has felt like a hit was that nothing feels urgent enough in how we're getting people housed and supported during the winter.”

The centralized wait list for community housing has had more than 10,000 households. During the pandemic, the city has opened physical distancing centres and isolation centres to ease the pressure on emergency shelters.

The city estimates there are 150 people sleeping outside, up from 90 before the pandemic. Salvation Army outreach services have told the city that between April and June they served 282 unique individuals who were sleeping outside or couch-surfing, a 68 per cent increase from the same three months in 2019. The Salvation Army's intel from the street indicated there was a hesitancy for people to use emergency shelters, the city learned.

Paul Lavigne, the city's program manager for homelessness programs and resource services, said 34 landlords have submitted units through a website set up for the blitz, but many of the 58 units identified haven't been suitable for the program.

The pandemic has “intensified the need for safe and affordable housing” and the city continues encouraging landlords to identify available units, Lavigne said.

Burkholder Harris said there has been more government money poured into housing programs during the pandemic, but it could be an uphill battle to maintain or grow financial support in 2021, especially from the city, which has contributed $30 million over the past two years for new affordable units.

However, council's leadership has advocated for “self-discipline” in developing the 2021 budget.

“This is on us as members of this community to keep pushing for councillors to move toward a really critical response on housing-focused support for people,” Burkholder Harris said.

Landlords can still learn about the 100-home blitz on the project website, ottawahousingblitz.ca.