Housing Corp. seeks federal funds
Agency facing $170-million bill over 10 years for repairs, renewal
With unprecedented demand and a whopping $170-million price tag to fix its aged social housing complexes, the Windsor Essex Community Housing Corp. is at a crucial juncture.
And federal government funding is hovering as a potential saviour.
“It’s exciting and important. This is our time to reset affordable housing in Windsor and Essex County,” says CEO Jim Steele, whose career over the last 38 years at the corporation has focused mostly on managing and maintaining the housing stock as well as possible with limited funds.
This year, there could be a dramatic change, he said. The housing corporation expects to hear within the coming months about its application seeking $90 million from a relatively new program that’s part of the National Housing Strategy.
With corresponding cash from the city and county, the $170-million, 10-year plan calls for renewing, repairing and improving accessibility and energy efficiency at the housing complexes, many of which are 50 years old.
“I’ve never seen anything so good and I’ve been doing this since 1982,” Steele said of the federal program from the National Housing Co-investment Fund’s Repair and Renewal Funding Stream.
Snagging the money is critical, said Steele.
Both the city and county are backing the application, which will require major municipal contributions.
“If we don’t get our infrastructure for our walls and windows and roofs and doors, that would cause a major problem and we would have to shut down units,” he said.
The city, county, province and feds all agree they don’t want this to happen, said Steele.
“And that’s why I’m very confident we’ll make this work in the end,” he says.
Maintaining what was largely subsidized housing downloaded 20 years ago by upper tiers of government with no money in reserves has been an uphill battle for the corporation, whose sole shareholder is the City of Windsor with the county paying its share of the cost. The units probably need $10 million annually for maintenance, but the corporation is spending about $3 million, Steele said.
“And the longer you let it go, the more it’s going to cost you.”
While the city and county would be expected to contribute about $80 million over 10 years for the $170-million repair and renewal, that includes the $29 million they would have spent anyway at $3 million a year. The total shortfall amounts to $43.1 million to be paid out starting in 2025, with the city paying $25.9 million and the county paying the rest.
While the municipalities are likely to incur debt, the payments will be shouldered by the housing corporation using revenue from rent and government payments, not taxpayers, according to Steele.
The $90 million from the feds is comprised of grants and low-interest loans. “This goes a long way in keeping our stock in active condition,” Steele said.
The housing corporation has 4,708 units, 4,231 in Windsor and 477 in Essex County. It’s the largest provider of social housing in the region, though there are dozens of others, most of which have newer housing stock.
A comprehensive assessment several years ago by an engineering firm reported that the corporation’s unfunded capital liability would reach $112 million over 10 years, but just recently that number has been upgraded to $148 million due to worsening conditions. The Repair and Renewal application calls for $170 million in work because of the addition of required energy efficiency improvements and making 20 per cent of the units accessible.
The improvements could include such measures as rewrapping tower buildings with insulation and new cladding to improve energy efficiency, replacing old electrical systems, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in high-rises, and replacing aging windows, doors and roofs.
“You start multiplying all the doors, toilets we have by 4,708, it’s a lot of money,” Steele said.
The waiting list for social housing, which for many years was in the 2,000 to 2,500 range, has never been higher with more than 6,000 families on the list. Demand for affordable housing, coupled with a low turnover rate for current residents due to the high housing costs in the private market, are driving demand for additional units. Currently under construction is the 145-unit Meadowbrook project, the first municipally funded project in decades.
While Windsor contributed $12 million and land to the Meadowbrook project, the feds kicked in $22 million from another National Housing Strategy program that targets new housing. Steele is hoping to access the government program again. “We need to be adding 150 units a year, maybe,” he said.
You start multiplying all the doors, toilets we have by 4,708, it’s a lot of money.