Initiative aims to provide hundreds with affordable housing for the holidays

A number of people waiting on the city’s social housing waitlist may soon have a home for the holidays.

A number of people waiting on the city’s social housing waitlist may soon have a home for the holidays.

The ‘Home for the Holidays’ program, initiated by the City’s Housing services department, is using surplus funds to repair social housing units that are vacant to provide as many families as possible with a home in time for the holidays.

Up to $2 million, the city says, will be injected into repairing CityHousing Hamilton’s vacant social housing units, which lack money to complete repairs.

CityHousing Hamilton is a local housing corporation that runs the city’s social housing units.

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As part of the initiative, 68 townhouses and nearly 150 apartments (mostly family units) will be renovated or repaired, a press release from the city says.

“This has been an excellent opportunity for us,” said Tom Hunter, CEO CityHousing Hamilton, “to be able to provide affordable housing to people in Hamilton.”

So far, 35 of the renovated units have been rented with more coming up in the weeks to come.

Hunter said that they hope to fill at least a quarter of the units by the holidays, and the rest in the coming months. “At least by March 2020,” he said.

Edward John, the director of Hamilton’s Housing Services, said the waitlist for affordable housing sits at approximately 6,700. With this initiative, it’s hoped that the list could see a significant drop.

“People can be waiting years on the list,” he said. “This is a great way to show initiative and get the units occupied.”

He said they are working as hard as they can to streamline the process and reduce the waitlist numbers and the wait time.

For those struggling to pay rent based on their income, moving into social housing will ensure that they pay an appropriate amount of rent (approx. 30 per cent of their income).

For those on the waitlist, though, there are options, John said. The city does offer housing allowances of up to $250 to $275 to help offset the cost of renting from private property owners at full market value — which has skyrocketed in the last few years.

“It’s not as desirable as getting into social housing,” he said.

In a social housing situation, where units are offered at 20 per cent less the average market value, a calculation of a household’s income is made, and provided that 30 per cent of that income is below the market rate of the unit in question, ”they would qualify and we would provide a subsidy to bridge the gap between 30 per cent of their income and the required benchmarked rent,” explained John.

This makes a big difference in a household’s ability to cover other expenses such as food, transportation, education or medical needs.

The $2 million surplus used for this initiative is the result of several factors, including: the number of projects under redevelopment (e.g. Jamesville and MacNab); subsidies that flow through those properties currently under redevelopment not being used; and individuals receiving subsidy throughout the year that have had a change in income and no longer receive a subsidy.

Work on the units in question ranges says Hunter, who said they are working with nine contractors to carry out the renovations. He said they’ve seen everything from “moderate to extensive” renovations required to turn over the units.

“But this [additional funding] has helped us repair some of those units that required more extensive renovations,” he said.

The newly renovated units are located throughout the city, but Hunter said they have a “higher proportion of units in central Hamilton, the East End and on the Mountain.”

While this is the first year for ‘Home for the Holidays,’ but the hope, both Hunter and John said, is to continue this program in future.

“This is very positive for the people of Hamilton,” Hunter said.