Officials say low-income Centretown households are getting the help they need, in the form of $1.8 million in renovations.
The Ottawa Community Housing Corporation is cleaning out the mould and reducing noise at 80 of its units at its LeBreton Flats development on Albert Street.
“We really feel that it is important to enhance the quality of life for our tenants,” says Jo-Anne Poirier, CEO of the corporation.
Renovations have been going on since mid-summer 2008, and Poirier says work will hopefully be finished in early summer 2009.
Coralee Valois, a neighbourhood resident, says work started on her townhouse last October and took about three months. The biggest undertaking was replacing north-facing walls, likely because of mould, she says. Workers also replaced windows, counter tops and cabinets.
Currently, most of the project’s interior handiwork is done, and crews are waiting for the weather to improve before working on the exteriors, says Poirier. The outside improvements include better lighting and landscaping to make the space more safe and inviting, which Poirier says is more of a preventative measure.
“The neighbourhood is pretty safe,” says Valois. “I have a one-and-a-half year-old son and if I felt it wasn’t safe I’d be out of here.”
She says that there is a feeling of community in her neighbourhood, and she often sees neighbours giving each other a hand when cars get stuck in snowy laneways.
While the LeBreton Flats budget is coming out of the housing corporation’s existing reserves, it needs all levels of government to help fund broader repairs. The OCHC is planning renovations on many of its 15,000 housing units.
“We need about $330 million in the next five years, so our stock is in rough shape,” says Poirier, adding that the mouldy condition of the LeBreton units made them a priority.
Aging and ailing social housing is a common reality, says Ishbel Solvason-Wiebe, executive director of the Social Housing Registry of Ottawa, which manages the city’s waiting list for affordable housing.
“A lot of the stock is older stock, so as any building ages there is going to be age repair issues.”
This is something the municipal government has recognized, says Stephen Arbuckle, the City of Ottawa’s manager of housing programs.
“There is a significant amount of work that needs to be done in social housing to maintain it,” he adds.
While Valois says she is happy with her home’s renovations over all, she notes some outstanding problems. She and her neighbours hope their floor tiles will be replaced, and the community is fairly certain it has a mouse problem.
“I had a family nesting on my balcony,” adds Valois.
To keep up with repairs, the city has channelled tens of millions of dollars into housing repairs over the past three years – on top of the $8 million already in the annual budget. The money is distributed to Ottawa’s scores of housing providers depending on factors including urgency, health and safety, explains Arbuckle.
“We’re certainly like every other city, noting that this is a real need. Affordable housing is a really important issue and there’s a lack of it, generally,” he adds.
As of late January, there were over 9,000 households in Ottawa registered and waiting for rent-geared-to-income housing, says Solvason-Wiebe. The wait can last upwards of four to eight years.
Though the work at LeBreton Flats isn’t creating any new housing, it hasn’t displaced anyone either. While many of units are being renovated inside and out, no one has been forced to move, Poirier says.
“We’re making it work,” she says. “Although it is disruptive to the tenants, it really is going to beautify the community.”