Haldimand-Norfolk gets surprise windfall of $2.4 million for affordable housing upgrades
A surprise windfall from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation will speed up repair work in hundreds of affordable housing units in Haldimand-Norfolk.
In January, the CMHC offered the two counties $2.4 million over the next three years to make needed repairs and upgrades to 238 units, which represents about half of the total affordable housing units administered by the Haldimand-Norfolk Housing Corporation.
The money, from the CMHC's National Housing Co-Investment Fund, represents a 30 per cent bump in what the counties had budgeted for repairs, said Heidy Van Dyk, the general manager of corporate services for Norfolk County.
It means that we can do more work faster," Van Dyk said.
The repairs include swapping out old furnaces and toilets for more efficient models, replacing windows and roofs, lighting and heating upgrades, and accessibility improvements.
The funding works out to about $10,000 per unit, with the counties covering the remaining 70 per cent of the overall repair bill.
Van Dyk said the work is necessary to keep the existing houses, townhouses and apartment buildings - most of which are at least 40 years old - safe, energy efficient and in a state of good repair for our tenants."
It's really important that we maintain our social-housing stock, because we know the need is continuing to rise," she said.
And we don't want to get into a situation where we have to take units out of the program because they get to a state where we can't keep up with the repairs."
The housing units are clustered in urban centres in the two counties, and Van Dyk said many are home to long-term tenants who continue to meet eligibility for social housing.
In most cases, the wait for affordable housing in Haldimand-Norfolk is years long.
Van Dyk said her colleagues in the health and social services division routinely remind county planners to encourage affordable housing development and increase the number of affordable housing units that we have available."
J.P. Antonacci's reporting on Haldimand and Norfolk is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. jpantonacci@thespec.com