housing

The front exterior of a building. Black lettering can be seen on the building "Six Nations Housing".

Nine furnace replacements approved for elder housing unit

January 18, 2024 by Andrew Dow

An elder housing unit in the village of Ohsweken, 28 Bicentennial Trail, has received approval for a total of nine furnaces to be replaced later in 2024.

Six Nations Housing Senior Manager Lily-Anne Mt. Pleasant we seeking approval to have two additional furnaces added to the project after originally only budgeting for seven units to be replaced.

The additional costs for the two furnaces totaled $7,536, bringing the project’s total budget to $35,536.

The decision follows Six Nations Housing being approved in November 2023 to outfit four different elder housing locations with generators.

Six Nations Elected Council approved the additional costs to the project at 28 Biecentennial Trail during the Jan. 15 general finance meeting.

Edmonton City Hall from Winston Churchill Square. The main pyramid stands in the middle, with a thin clock tower to the right. Weather is partly cloudy.

Edmonton city council declares ‘housing and houselessness emergency’

January 15, 2024 by Ryan Hunt

Edmonton city council called a special meeting today to declare a housing and houselessness emergency in the city.

This comes after record-breaking cold temperatures swept across Alberta, and following the closure of lots of encampments by city officials and police shortly before the cold snap.

According to Mayor Amarjeet Sohi, there are an estimated 3,170 individuals experiencing houselessness in Edmonton, a historic high. He also said that the usage of Edmonton’s Food Bank is currently double of what the organization saw during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Declaring this emergency will signal to Edmontonians that council understands the magnitude of this problem. This is a call to action,” Mayor Sohi said.

Photo collage of Mayor Paul Horn: a white middle-aged man in a black shirt, beside image of a Mission BC residential street after a recent snowfall.

Mayor Horn discusses Mission’s winter preparedness as BC hit with cold front

January 13, 2024 by Surjit Atwal

Freezing temperatures and record-breaking snowfalls swept across B.C. this week, leaving many unhoused Lower Mainlanders out in the cold. Mayor Paul Horn of Mission B.C. said his city is prepared for extreme weather events, with vacant shelters, beds and more in development.

There are ten available beds at Haven in the Hollow, a shelter on Highway 7, “anytime the temperature, with the windchill included, feels like 0℃ or lower,” Horn said.

He noted that those spaces are not always filled.

“We’re also working to see if we can still expand those beds,” Horn said, “because we understand that some people may not want to utilize them, just because they don’t want to go to that particular facility.”

CIVL Radio interviewed Horn about how his government will address the root causes of homelessness and projects underway to improve living conditions in extreme weather.

Toronto City Hall in the background as people skate on the ice next to the Toronto sign

City unveils proposed budget for 2024

January 12, 2024 by Owen Thompson

The City of Toronto revealed its proposed 2024 budget with a focus on community feedback.

At a budget meeting on Jan. 10, the city announced that there will be an operating budget of $17 billion, with four key areas receiving a proposed $152 million increase to initiatives. Areas include shelter and housing, transit services and environmental sustainability, community initiatives and community safety.

The City has set up dates and times for telephone and virtual town halls. Jan. 16 to 18 at 7 p.m. to 8:30 pm there will be a telephone town hall where residents of Toronto can call to share their opinions

The budget committee will also be taking virtual callers the following week. On Jan. 22, Toronto city hall and Scarborough Civic Centre will be taking virtual calls throughout the day. Then on Jan. 23, Etobicoke and North York civic centre will doing the same

Residents are required to email or call ahead to book a time slot. The contact info can be found on the Toronto City website.

A beige brick building in Cobourg. There is a blue sky with clouds behind it and it is three storeys tall.

Northumberland County to hold public engagement sessions on shelter services

December 30, 2023 by Jeff Gard

Northumberland County is holding in-person and virtual engagement sessions regarding modernizing shelter services at 310 Division St. in Cobourg.

The former Cobourg Retirement Residence will be the new home for shelter services as the County partners with Transition House. The engagement sessions aim to be an opportunity for residents to ask questions and share concerns and ideas.

Registration is required for the sessions, with limited space available on Jan. 16, 25 and 26. A virtual public meeting with a 20-minute presentation followed by a Q&A is planned for Feb. 6 from 6-7:30 p.m. An in-person open house will take place Feb. 12 from 6-7:30 p.m.

For more details on the sessions, visit northumberland.ca/ShelterModernization.

Screenshot from a youtube video of the City of Cambridge Council meeting. The screen shows the voting results for an affordable housing and a table of votes showing all the councilor names and how they voted.

Cambridge council votes against investigating affordable homes builds above city parking lots

December 22, 2023 by Dan Kellar

Cambridge mayor Jan Liggett voted against a motion on December 19 to investigate the plausibility building affordable housing in raised buildings above city owned parking lots. Four other city councillors also voted against the motion.

The motion, brought forward by ward 7 councilor Scott Hamilton, was supported by all the delegates who presented at the meeting including resident Matthew Rodgers, and three housing advocacy groups.

Despite strong support for the motion from delegates, and the voting support of councilors Kimpson, Earnshaw, Roberts, and Hamilton, the motion was ultimately defeated, with Mayor Liggett suggesting that churches should be converting their own parking lots for housing.

Before calling the vote, Liggett stated that voting “no” does not mean that a councillor is against building affordable housing.

The side of a brown clapboard tiny home, measuring approximately 10 by 10. On the brown windowless side is a black banner that reads 'A Better Tent City'. These words are bordered top and bottom by white lines that are designed to look worn. Underneath in a smaller font are the words "Tiny Homes and Great Community. Please help us make things better.

Homelessness organization obtains funding amid accusations of unfairness and inequity

December 22, 2023 by M.P. Holmes

Tensions simmered when the topic of A Better Tent City (ABTC) came up at the last Waterloo Regional Council meeting of 2023. ABTC is tiny home community in Kitchener that currently houses 50 chronic homeless people.

On one side were those who supported the motion from Councillor and Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic which granted $236,390 for the next two years to ABTC. On the other side were those who said the grant was unfair and inequitable.

Several Councillors insisted the wording of Councillor Vrbanovic’s motion be removed as they felt it was insulting to staff. Another criticism arose because six other groups had been denied original funding but did not afterwards ask Council for money, some councillors felt this was unfair and inequitable

Despite the criticism, Council carried Councillor Vrbanovic’s motion granting ABTC $236,390 for the next two years.

Windsor Youth Centre speaks on the stress of inflation rates

December 21, 2023 by Aysha Mian

For the Windsor youth who may be financially struggling or homeless, organizations like the Windsor Youth Centre (WYC) come to lend a helping hand. They provide hot meals, non-perishable hygiene items, and many other services.

The Windsor Youth Center’s HUGS campaign has been gathering many donations thanks to the contributions of the community, however; the demand for donations has unfortunately grown. With inflation at such a high level at the moment, food and other necessities are becoming increasingly difficult to acquire. As for youth who may be homeless, the struggle becomes even harder.

On Monday, December 18, CJAM spoke with Ashley Marchand, the manager of youth services at the Windsor Youth Centre. Marchand explained the goal of the HUGS campaign, and why the WYC is experiencing this increased stress.

An overhead map of the property at 933 Park Avenue with no housing on it.

Nanaimo council votes to not build affordable housing on Five Acres Farm

December 20, 2023 by Mick Sweetman

Nanaimo city council voted 8-1 on Monday to not build affordable housing on any portion of the Five Acres Farm at 933 Park Ave.

The city bought the land in 2019 to both protect the farm from development as well as a site for housing on part of the property.

Nanaimo Foodshare currently operates a community garden on the property and the former farmhouse is rented by tenants, but the plan is to demolish the house as maintenance and renovation costs are expected to exceed rent revenue, according to a city staff report. A large portion of the property is also a protected wetland

The community garden on the site is one of 10 city-owned properties that are currently growing food.

City staff reported that 76 per cent of respondents were opposed to any affordable housing being built on the property.

A man wearing a purple shirt and dark grey jacket speaks at a podium in front of a shiny white backdrop.

Windsor Residence for Young Men finishes crucial renovations

December 18, 2023 by Aysha Mian

The Windsor Residence for Young Men Program held a presentation on Friday afternoon to announce that renovations are now complete.

With the $74,600 in grants from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the residents now have working windows and more secure fencing. Overall, it helps to make the place feel safer for the young men living there. These renovations can also ensure that the residence is up to code, allowing the program to continue running in the near future.

At the presentation, local MPPs Andrew Dowie and Lisa Gretzky showed their support. They shared some words of thanks to the OTF, and praise to the Windsor Residence for Young Men for all of their hard work.

CJAM spoke to Executive Director, Jason Weinberg, about the program and the grant.

Piles of clean clothes on the floor and on shelves waiting to be processed and distributed.

“Community clothing hub” to provide clothes to unhoused this winter

December 18, 2023 by Edward Sweeney

Peterborough Action for Tiny Homes (PATH) has launched a program called “Ready for Home” which the organization describes as a “community clothing hub”,.

“Our purpose is to collect donated clothing items, distribute them to community organizations that support individuals who happen to be unhoused on the front lines, while providing professional development opportunities, and community building opportunities for the participants,” says program coordinator Crystal Craighead.

The Ready for Home program will be conducted at PATH’s newly acquired property at 385 Lansdowne Street E. , which is also the future location of PATH’s community of tiny homes. Unhoused community members who choose to volunteer with Ready for Home will receive a meal, and compensation for travel to, and from, the location.

The Ready for Home program is partially operational, and scheduled to be working at full capacity in January when they receive post-secondary placement students.

A map showing the proposed development containing 12 towers in the middle of low rise buildings, roads and parks.

First stage approved for housing development on former Kraus Flooring factory site

December 15, 2023 by Dan Kellar

The first stages of a 12-tower development on the former Kraus Flooring factory lands in North Waterloo were approved through a unanimous vote from city councilors on December 11. With support for the project and the necessary changes to the site’s zoning and by-laws, the developer can move further into project planning.

The affordable and attainable housing in this purpose built rental development features a proposed total of 5,452 bedrooms in 3,353 residential units.

Delegates at the meeting included site owner Richard Boyer of 65 Northfield Drive Inc; consultant Chris Pidgeon of GSP Group; and Waterloo resident Ashwin Annamalai. Councillors Hanmer, Bodaly, Roe, Freeman, and Vasic also spoke, as did Mayor McCabe.