Hamilton residents struggle to secure affordable housing
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2024
- Hamilton residents continue to struggle to secure an affordable place to live.
One Hamilton man says he has been waiting three years for a city housing unit, and he still has no idea how much longer he will have to wait. David Duce says the city can't tell him where he sits on the waitlist.
The city said it can't tell people where they sit on the waitlist, because the list is changing constantly and it doesn't want to create unreal expectations. The constant changes to the list are partially due to a rule requiring victims of abuse to get the highest priority, and even then, they can expect a one-year wait.
54-year-old Duce is on disability and can't afford an apartment in Hamilton. His doctors have written advocacy letters saying Duce needs some help finding a place to live. "I can't afford full market value for an apartment, not on ODSP," Duce said.
Duce's housing problem has now become an emergency, as he is being evicted after the home he's lived in for ten years was sold, and he needs to be out soon. "I guess I'm going to be out in the street," Duce said.
The Executive Director of St. Matthew's House, Renne Wetselaar said Duce's case is another example of the desperate need for more affordable housing units. Adding, "we've heard wait times of up to 5 or 7 years in some cases."
Wetselaar said more funding from all levels of government is needed, and the process to develop new units needs to be simplified with affordable housing development applications given priority by Hamilton's building department.
This summer St. Matthews will tear down a building right beside its headquarters on Barton Street to make way for a 15-unit affordable housing project targeted at Black and Indigenous seniors.
The housing unit will be called the "4-12 Barton Project" and the plan is to have it ready for residents to move into by January 2023.
Brian Kreps with the city's housing services department says one of the biggest things the city can do to help create more units is partnerships with non-profits. Kreps said there are about 12-thousand affordable units the city is responsible for. "There are some that are vacant but they are vacant pending redevelopment or as part of turnover," Kreps said.
The long-awaited Jamesville social housing redevelopment project remains empty,
and Kreps said there are a few still unoccupied in the Ken Soble Tower.
As of the end of 2020, the most recent figures available, Kreps said there are about 6,700 people on the waitlist for housing.
CHCH News spoke with Ward 2 councillor Jason Farr and Farr said the demolition of Jamesville has begun with asbestos removal and the buildings will likely start coming down in August.
Farr said the city is fixing hundreds of units across Hamilton. It's part of a number of projects underway that he says will bring more affordable units to Hamilton.
Enough is enough, eliminate politicians salaries and put them on ODSP benefits then see how they manage.
Here on the uk, you WILL wait upto 5 years for council/social housing. Boris is knocking everything down and building new to buy when half the population can't afford to pay social housing. 8 years I've waiting, im stuck in a decrepit "private" rent which means I need at least £5000 for a deposit and rent and charges IF you pass the credit check first that is. Its a disgrace. I'd happily live in a van right now.
working poor. doing 50 hr a wk & starving. I'm at a reputable place of employment in the city. been there 15 yrs. union & all. absolute garbage to survive.
I was victim of abusing and bullying and harassment from my landlord and she put brutality eviction on me and my son both we got covid. Someone need to arrest these baster didn’t recognize pandemic and hurt people brutality. We need home now.
I'm also on OSP. In 2009, after six years with Homeless Status on the Access to Housing wait list, I finally got an apartment, but only because I ended up in hospital and a social worker advocated for me. I've now been on the wait list for over three years, two and a half of those with Urgent Status. I'm surprised this man that this man was surprised that there's still not a place for him. The only change in the wait list since 2009 is that it's gotten longer.
one thing is for sure ODSP needs to go up asap like a good amount , everything skyrocketed in price . and where the people where just fine to afford stuff no longer can , last time it rise was in 2018 and it was really not much . and like 1 bedrooms appt are like $1200 and up its insane how hard we got hit here in Hamilton
Just curious to what you think ODSP should go up to ????
@@garetthewitt9976 enough for someone that cant work and is on ODSP , that could afford an apprt they have gone up a lot ,
Mississauga it's a 8 year wait. So 3 is not that bad. He will always be down on the list cause woman and children first. He is going to have to look ar different options
We need to do a better job at defining affordable housing in these reports. It's too broad a subject. Affordable as in first time home buyers? Affordable as in rental units in privately owned properties? Or are we talking about public housing owned and managed by the city, province etc. often geared to income and linked to other social services and supports.
These stories tend to focus on those living on disability pensions because the public is more sympathetic to working aged people who aren't able to work and provide for themselves and their families through no fault of their own. The public is less concerned about the single mother/father or the low income working poor. When talking about the working poor the subject regarding wages, skills training, housing and such gets far more complicated. And people fear that a livable wage for service sector employees and hotel hospitality will raise prices on the things that working class and lower middle class people enjoy. Help them. Just not at my expense type situations.
Why does Hamilton have so much people on ODSP?? Why do we keep attracting them?
Yet newcomers have no problem $ecuring housing instantly ?
Oh and don’t forget they all seem to suddenly get a brand new looking vehicle as well
Many (not all) newcomers are sponsored by someone or by an organization, that's why.
@@ontariofirs7347 $umone needs to $ponsor the old stock Canadian displaced by decades of over immigration.