Ontario Communities Get $65 Million Boost For Affordable Housing

January 17, 2008 – The Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario today announced more than $65 million in funding for affordable housing across Ontario. The funding will help create 946 new affordable rental units in 34 projects and provide down payment assistance to 129 households.
The announcement was made by Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock MP Barry Devolin, on behalf of the Honourable Monte Solberg, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development Canada, and the Honourable Jim Watson, Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Also participating in today’s announcement were Joe Dickson, MPP for Ajax-Pickering, Regional Councillor April Cullen from the City of Oshawa, Chair of Durham Region Health and Social Services Committee, and Colleen Jordan, Regional Councillor for the Town of Ajax.
“The Government of Canada is committed to making affordable housing more available in Ontario and across Canada for those who need it most,” said MP Devolin. “This investment will help individuals, seniors, and families in Ontario who are working towards building a better and stronger future.”
“The McGuinty government is pleased to continue its reputation of increasing the availability of affordable housing across the province,” said Minister Watson. “We believe that every Ontario family should have a safe, healthy, affordable place to call home.”
Today’s announcement was made at 40 Station St., a future affordable housing apartment complex in Ajax, sponsored by Ajax Municipal Housing Corporation. The $13.6 million project, which includes $5.7 million from the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program, will result in 82 apartment units for low-income families and individuals, including people with physical disabilities and other special needs. Three additional affordable housing projects are also underway in Durham Region:
$2.2 million for a 32-unit project in Oshawa. The project is sponsored by TGFG Ventures Inc., and the units will be occupied by low-income families and individuals, including people with physical disabilities and other special needs.
$350,000 for five new units at the existing building at 20 Perry St. in Uxbridge. The project is sponsored by Durham Regional Local Housing Corporation, and the units will be occupied by low-income seniors and people with disabilities.
$840,000 for a 12-unit project at 229 Lakeview Park Dr. in Oshawa. The project is sponsored by Durham Regional Local Housing Corporation, and the units will be occupied by low-income families and individuals.
“The availability of a range of rental housing opportunities is vital to the economic and social well-being of growing communities like Durham Region,” said Councillor Cullen. “We are delighted to join with other levels of government in ensuring that the housing needs of this community's residents continue to be met.”
The new Canada – Ontario Affordable Housing Program comprises a commitment of $301 million from each of the two senior levels of government. In total, the federal, provincial and municipal governments will invest at least $734 million in the program, which will provide affordable housing for 20,000 households in Ontario.
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For more information visit:
http://www.cmhc.ca/ http://www.mah.gov.on.ca/http://www.region.durham.on.ca/
Media Inquiries:
Pema LhalungpaOffice of Minister Solberg819-994-2428
Carlene SiopisCanada Mortgage and Housing Corporation416-250-3297
Adam GrachnikOffice of Minister Watson416-585-6492
Sherri Munns-AudetThe Regional Municipality of Durham905-668-7711 ext. 2068

Scarborough Familly Moves Into The Home CityNews Helped Bui

Monday March 24, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff

You didn't have to listen to Aster Ghebreamlak's words to understand her excitement and astonishment. Just look at the gleam in her eyes.

The Toronto mother lived a dream on Monday, accomplishing something she never believed possible - moving her family into her own home on Kingston Road. It was a house she helped to construct, along with some well known faces and names from Citytv. The project, a three-bedroom, 1,300 sq.-ft. townhouse, has been under construction for about a year.

It was put up by Habitat for Humanity, an organization that requires owners to pay an interest-free mortgage, while avoiding the often unmanageable downpayments that accompany home ownership.

Raw materials are donated to save on construction costs and volunteers give their time to make sure it all comes together. Selected owners must also contribute 500 volunteer hours, either to the construction of their home or to another cause Habitat is involved in.

And now, after the big build-up, comes the moment this mom was never sure she'd see. She packed up the final vestiges of her life in a cramped two-bedroom apartment on Gordon Ridge Road and officially moved in to what's truly home sweet home.

"I'm so excited," she beams. "Really happy to be there, in my new house ... You know, we wish for [Lotto] 6/49. This is my 6/49 for the rest of my life! Honestly. I'm so happy!"

The house has enough rooms for her young sons, who all had to share one bedroom in their old place. "There was not really a lot of space," son Filimon admits. He's already got ideas for his room. "[Put] my computer over there, maybe right here a little lamp, and wallpaper."

Aster's already thinking of how to add those frills that truly make a house a home. And she has big plans not only for her place but her life, applying to become a registered nurse and hopefully one day, a social worker. "I will be achieving more and more and help other women to get what I am getting," she vows.

And if it's true good things come to those who wait, Aster knows a thing or two about patience. She had to wait months to get into her new address. Her neighbour's homes were still under construction and it took all that time to get the occupancy permits.

Her first night at her new address likely won't produce many dreams as she sleeps in her new bedroom, because all hers came true in the light of day.

"When I used to get up in the morning, like 'oh, now I have to get up. I have to face another day," she reflects. "But now ... I just love life. Life is beautiful ... I feel like I'm coming out from a shoebox."

Habitat FAQ

Don't need a home but want to help the cause? Click here to find out what you can do.

Thousands continue to wait for social housing

Tue Feb 05, 2008

By: By Reka Szekely
DURHAM -- With an average 30-month wait, thousands of applicants remained on the waiting list for Durham social housing last year.

Overall, there were 3,650 applicants on the waiting list at the end of 2007. Of those, 237 had special priority, meaning that at least one member of the household is being abused by someone with whom they currently live or from whom they have recently separated. Non-priority applicants are placed on the list chronologically.

The average wait in the Region was 30 months for those without priority and seven months for those with it. A total of 454 households received rent-geared-to-income housing last year.

The housing crunch was felt most steeply in the west end of the region. Families without priority waited an average of 67 months or five-and-a-half years, for housing in Ajax. In Pickering and Uxbridge, no non-priority families were housed in 2007.

About 50 per cent of the Region's available housing is in Oshawa, with 15 per cent in Whitby, 10 per cent in Ajax, nine per cent in Pickering, eight per cent in Clarington and three per cent or less in each of Scugog, Uxbridge and Brock.

Mary Menzies, acting director social housing for Durham Region, said long waits often force tough decisions on families.

"For a lot of families, they're choosing between feeding their children or paying their rent that month," said Ms. Menzies, adding that kind of hardship creates a tremendous amount of stress on the family.

At just more than two years, seniors had the shortest average wait.

Singles and couples with no children had the longest.

Part of the problem is there is very little turnover in homes for single people or couples with no children, said Ms. Menzies. Another part is social housing has been traditionally geared toward families and seniors.

"It was only in the late 1980s singles were even considered eligible for social housing," said Ms. Menzies.

Singles and couples represent 32 per cent of the social housing waiting list, but they represented only 12 per cent of those actually housed in 2007. That's down two per cent from last year.

Even for singles with priority, the average wait was 13 months.

"It's still a very long time for someone living in a situation where their safety is in jeopardy," said Ms. Menzies, adding that Durham's network of shelters do a great deal to help.

There was, however, a 39 per cent decline in special priority demand from last year. That was a result of administrative clean up of the database.

Ms. Menzies said that although the 131 new housing units announced in January will help the overall situation, it's going to take a community effort to reduce the size of the list.

"It's not just an issue of building housing, it's helping people improve their economic situation."

Social housing tenants still waiting to hear their fate

Tue Jan 29, 2008

By: By Jillian Follert

OSHAWA -- The uncertainty continues for 80 tenants at two of the City's oldest social housing buildings.

For more than two months, people living in affordable and rent-geared-to-income units at Chris Mason Hall and Owen D. Friend Apartments, have waited on pins and needles as council mulls over what to do with the aging properties.

And it looks like they'll keep waiting.

On Monday night, council had the chance to scrap a proposed plan to sell off the buildings, but instead decided to send it back to the committee level for more debate.

Last fall, council's finance and administration committee voted in-camera to sell the properties on the open market, because they require between $500,000 and $700,000 in repairs over the next five years.

The decision, first reported in This Week, sparked concern that the buildings wouldn't remain social housing if sold. Durham Region already has a serious social housing gap, with about 4,000 people on a waiting list.

On Monday night, Councillor April Cullen made a motion to scrap the sale and do the renovations.

"I want to stop using people who are disadvantaged as a political football. There are people who spent their Christmas wondering if they were going to have a place to live," she said. "I want to put this issue to bed tonight. We have a shortage of affordable housing in this city and I think it would be inappropriate to sell these buildings and take the chance that they could be torn down or replaced."â?¨ But her colleagues weren't convinced.

Councillor Robert Lutczyk wants to investigate selling the properties to the Region of Durham -- which already manages them -- saying that is the level of government responsible for social housing. He suggested this option despite originally voting to sell them on the open market when consideration of selling to the Region was also on the table.

Mayor John Gray said it makes the most sense to keep the properties and do renovations slowly over time, saying it would cost more to transfer them to the Region, because the repairs would have to be done first and the mortgages would have to be discharged.

"I'm not interested in doing that because it's too costly," he said. "My hope is that councillors will decide to develop a work plan, so we can see these buildings rehabilitated over time and keep the arrangement we have now."

City Treasurer Rick Stockman said the amount outstanding on the mortgages was about $38,000 for Chris Mason Hall and $296,000 for Owen D. Friend, as of 2006.

Mary Menzies, acting director of housing for the Region, couldn't guess how Regional council would respond to a request from Oshawa to take on the buildings, but said the Region already needs to make millions in repairs on its own stock of housing and questioned why they would willingly take on more liabilities.

The debate continues at the next finance and administration committee meeting on Feb. 5 at 9 a.m.