Ottawa Community Housing, which oversees the operation of the city’s social housing sector- including buildings throughout the downtown area, has been named this year’s winner of a provincial award of excellence.
The award was presented on Nov. 19 at the annual Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association in Toronto. OCH was recognized among 1,300 representatives from Ontario's affordable housing sector.
“We’ve been working hard to really transform the organization and reorganize ourselves to focus on tenants and engage them in part of our plans for community development,” says Jo-Anne Poirier, chief executive officer of OCH.
As the only social housing provider owned by the city of Ottawa, OCH is also the largest, owning and managing 15,000 of the 22,000 units of social housing in the city, Poirier says.
Ray Sullivan, president of Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation, nominated OCH for the award even though he works at a different non-profit housing organization.
Poirier says that being honoured by her peers from CCOC is “the greatest honor because we respect the work that they all do as well.”
Ottawa was singled out in the province again when the Clementine Towers Social Club and Tenant Association, an OCH senior’s residence group from the Alta Vista region of Ottawa, won the ONPHA 2010 Tenant Achievement Recognition Award at the conference.
Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes, chairwoman of OCH, says winning the awards gives OCH residents a lot of optimism, knowing their housing provider is excelling at a provincial level.
“It’s a great honour for an Ottawa Community Housing building to win an Ontario-wide award,” says Holmes.
“It’s very encouraging to our residents who are seniors to know that there are Ottawa Community Housing seniors that are active and doing well, getting their residents busy in the community and taking part in community events,” says Holmes.
Poirier says the Clementine Towers Social Club was nominated for the award because of their efforts in fundraising for Haiti relief, filling 90 backpacks with school supplies for economically disadvantaged children, and launching activities that keep their seniors physically active and healthy.
The importance of OCH can be seen in the stories of people finding refuge in the safety of an affordable home, shows the ONPHA website in the tenant profiles.
According to the website, Mary Blackburn fled domestic violence with her daughter and found refuge in a non-profit housing apartment in Nepean.
“Life has gotten so much better with the support I've received, that I don't need to hide anymore,” says Blackburn in her online profile.
But being recognized for provincial awards does not mask the fact that OCH is having problems with funding and a wait list for people needing accommodations, says Holmes.
“There is a city-wide waiting list (for OCH housing),” says Holmes. “Women suffering from abuse are one of the priorities and extreme medical condition is another priority.”
Since the downloading of funding in 2000 for social housing from federal and provincial governments to cities, OCH has been struggling with the upkeep of its 15,000 units of housing spread throughout Ottawa, say both Holmes and Poirier.
“We are constantly advocating to get the provincial and federal governments back into maintaining the housing they built,” says Holmes.
Tenant groups of OCH buildings in Centretown, such as 450 Laurier and 415 MacLaren, are coming up with social activities to bring together their tenants and create community which could give them a shot at an ONPHA award next year, says Poirier.