Provincial program to upgrade social housing welcomed

Windsor officials are hoping to get a nice slice of the $657-million funding pie announced Thursday by the province for energy-saving, social housing upgrades.

Jelena Payne, commissioner of community development and health services, said although the announcement wasn’t unexpected because the Liberal government alluded to the money as part of the most recent budget, it’s good news for Windsor and Essex County.

“We knew this was going to be coming down the pipeline,” Payne said, adding the province is now taking the step toward putting money into the hands of municipalities and service providers.

Peter Milczyn, Minister of Housing and the minister responsible for poverty reduction, made the announcement Thursday in Toronto. Almost half of the funding will go to Toronto.

The province will be offering money for repairs and retrofits to social housing across Ontario to improve living conditions and fight climate change, Milczyn said.

The plan is funded by proceeds from the province’s carbon market and must be invested into programs that help households and businesses reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save money on energy costs.

Payne said many of Windsor and Essex County’s 8,750 housing units need improvements. There are 3,800 people on the wait list.

Under the provincial program, upgrades to social housing buildings can include energy-efficient heating, improved insulation and window replacement.

“Our social housing stock is definitely in need of repair … particularly in the area of energy,” Payne said.

For example, she said the Windsor-Essex Housing Corporation spends about 30 per cent of its budget on utilities costs.

“So anything that we can do to help mitigate that is definitely welcome and a welcome investment in our community.”

There are 34 social housing providers in the community and they will all potentially have access to the funding, Payne said.

It’s unknown at this point how much money Windsor/Essex County will receive, but Tina Moore, program coordinator of housing administration and development, said in the past this area received 3.2 per cent of funding allocation.

“If we apply that formula to the announcement it works out to approximately $4 million per year,” Moore said, adding the funding will be rolled out over five years.

“So that’s the best-case scenario, if they follow that funding formula that they’ve used in the past,” she said. “We’d be very hopeful that we would be receiving around the $4-million-per-year mark.”

Payne said the city is awaiting details from the province on whether the money will be allocated to municipalities through a funding formula or an application process.