The wait for the housing wait list
City has a backlog of 2,000 applicants, who, if eligible, could be added to the 6,110 households already in line for subsidized units
The city has a processing backlog of roughly 2,000 applications for subsidized apartments in Hamilton.
Those applications still await review for potential addition to the 6,110 households already on the wait list.
“It’s a scary number,” Coun. Tammy Hwang said during a staff presentation this week.
The sobering update comes after council recently backed a CityHousing plan to invest $5.7 million to repair 476 vacant units to bring them back online by November 2024.
Those repairs and the construction of additional housing “as soon as possible” is the “overall answer,” Coun. Tom Jackson said.
“I know families that have been on the wait list for 10 years. No movement.”
All told, Hamilton has 13,124 subsidized housing units operated by 40 providers, including CityHousing, which has 7,122.
Of 6,110 people on the wait list as of Dec. 31, 2022, 930 lived in a rentgeared-to-income unit but wanted to transfer to another one.
The centralized chronological wait list managed by the city prioritizes certain applicants, with victims of domestic violence or human trafficking given the most urgency.
Others include applicants who have safety concerns and terminal illnesses.
Those who are homeless, newcomers and youth are also prioritized.
The application backlog stems from staffing shortages, the opening of new buildings and an overall spike in applications, staff told councillors.
The goal is to catch up by the end of 2024 with the help of temporary staff.
“I think ultimately that’s the only answer. We need more people to be able to do the applications,” program manager Brian Kreps told The Spectator.
The backlog doesn’t affect the timing of those already on the list, Kreps said.
It remains to be seen how many of the 2,000 applications pending full review are found to be eligible for subsidized units and end up added to the wait list.
Kreps noted six access-to-housing clerks are busy responding to emails, phone calls and in-person inquiries. Staffing churn during the COVID-19 pandemic, which at one point reduced the contingent of six to two, was also a factor in the backlog, he said.
Meanwhile, there has also been a “significant” spike in applications for social housing as rents in the private market soar, adding to their workload.
“It’s just become that much more anxiety provoking for people.”
New buildings also create more work for staff, who are tasked with managing site-specific wait lists as units become available.
Last year, 653 households were placed in rent-geared-to-income units, the greatest number since 2017, likely related to the opening of new buildings, a staff report noted.
Roughly $50.6 million was spent on social housing in Hamilton in 2022 — most of which “came from the municipal tax levy with only $13,003,143 in federal funding.”
This fall, CityHousing expects to open a 24-unit rent-geared-to-income building on King William Street that netted federal rapidhousing dollars.