East-end tenants ponder future as neighbours vacate CityHousing Hamilton townhouses

When Andrew Walker glances at the east Hamilton streetscape he has called home nearly all his life, boarded-up townhouses stare back at him.

Walker has lived with his parents in the subsidized community on Lang Street just north of Queenston Road next to the Red Hill Valley Parkway for all but two of this 25 years.

We like it here. It's comfortable. It's home."

But at some point, the Walkers will have to leave to make way for the bulldozers, which have already reduced blocks of CityHousing homes to barren lots along Lang Street, Hayes Avenue and Reid Avenue.

They are being razed so a consortium of developers can build a $400-million mixed-income community of more than 600 private-market townhouses and apartments.

CityHousing will retain ownership of land where a 10-storey apartment building with 103 units will be built at the south end of the redeveloped area. The goal for occupancy is the summer of 2022.

So far, residents from about 70 units out of the 107 two-storey townhouses and one-storey apartments have moved out. Some have found homes in other CityHousing buildings while others have gone to the private market.

The redevelopment is part of the cash-strapped municipal social-housing provider's efforts to tackle a multimillion-dollar repair backlog among its roughly 7,000-unit portfolio and build anew by selling its real estate assets.

Substantial upgrades would be required over the next 30 years to maintain the buildings, which were constructed in 1957 and 1970," Tom Hunter, CEO of CityHousing Hamilton (CHH), said in an email about the Roxborough complex.

As part of our community revitalization strategy, CHH will continue to explore efforts and support communities that create a spectrum of affordability."

The project is similar to a partnership between CityHousing, private builders and affordable-housing provider Indwell to tear down 91 boarded-up townhouses at Jamesville in the city's North End and build a denser mixed-income community.

Carriage Gates Homes, UrbanCore Developments and Effort Group, the partners in Roxborough Park Inc., bought a 4.3-acre site where Roxborough Park School once stood on Reid Avenue North for $4.13 million in 2016. The school was demolished in 2017.

An additional piece of land, roughly eight acres, south of the former school property, is the CityHousing townhouse community. Hunter noted he couldn't say what that land deal is worth, citing incomplete transactions involving contractual arrangements with the private developers.

Housing in the area, which is part of the McQuesten neighbourhood, dates to when the 200-acre Hamilton Civic Airport, established in 1929, was decommissioned in 1951. The airstrip was divided up into lots for development.

Seventy years later, on a website the consortium partners launched for the future Roxboro Park community, they promote modern towns for less" and home ownership for less" in new Hamilton."

The city has designated the Roxborough neighbourhood a community improvement area" to encourage redevelopment. Specifically, the pilot program offers incentives to create affordable housing.

They oblige at least 100 new ownership units in the development to sell at a maximum price of $420,000, an amount that can be indexed each year to reflect market increases. Prospective owners must be first-time buyers, of moderate to low income, and not businesses.

For the rental stock, the intent is to have a blend of income levels," Edward John, the city's director of housing services, noted in an email.

Of the future 103 units in the CityHousing building, about 73 are to be rent-geared-to-income (RGI) apartments, while roughly 30 are to be affordable market rent, which the city considers no more than 125 per cent of the average market rent for the area.

(Average market rent is a Canada and Mortgage and Housing Corporation determination based on occupied units, for which rates are typically lower than what vacant units fetch. For instance, CMHC found the average rent for a one-bedroom in Hamilton was $1,027 in October 2020. That's compared to an average rent of $1,485 for one-bedrooms listed on Rentals.ca the same month.)

The city must maintain the same number of RGI units that were in the townhouse complex (where some residents have also paid market rates). So 18 of those subsidies have been transferred to Indwell, a Christian-based affordable-housing provider, for its project at the former Royal Oak Dairy site on East Avenue North.

The entire redevelopment is to range from about 80 to 175 per cent of average market rent.

In turn, the incentives for the builders are to include development-charge breaks valued at $10.47 million and $3.9 million in waived parkland fees normally applied in lieu of green space, according to a 2019 staff report.

Coun. Sam Merulla, who represents the area, says the public-private partnership will pay dividends for Hamilton.

Roxboro Park's layers of affordability" will leave residents with high disposable income" that will generate an economic boost" for the neighbourhood and city overall.

Property values will also rise, leading to more tax revenue, Merulla added.

So, in essence, there's so many layers of benefits that are so tangible that are coming into fruition, and we're reaping the benefits."

The longtime Ward 4 councillor also sees Roxboro Park as the continued reversal of an overconcentration" of low-income housing in the area that led to crime and gangs, specifically in Oriole Crescent to the north.

You need a diverse type of neighbourhood in order to truly prosper and not ghettoize an area, and that's what I think think we did as a city back in the day."

Lang Street residents have weathered their share of grief over the years, from gang rumbles in Roxborough Park, which abuts the former school site, to stabbings and shootings.

More recently, in 2017, Natasha Thompson, a 36-year-old mother of two, died after she was shot on a neighbour's doorstep.

Lang Street was also home to Devan Selvey, 14, who was fatally stabbed behind Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School in 2019.

Andrew Walker doesn't need to be told about violent crime in his neighbourhood.

But other parts of Hamilton also have those problems, Walker says. I wouldn't say it's a ghetto. It's just a low-income neighbourhood."

It's a tight knit" area where people know each other, he adds. And I think that makes people feel comfortable."

He was also reared on nearby schools. Walker went to Roxborough Park School, then attended Hillcrest and Churchill. I've been able to just walk to school my entire life."

Walker didn't stray too far to study at Brock University's campus on King Street East to become a teacher.

For these many years, the subsidized rent on Lang Street has been a lifesaver, says mom Jane Walker.

The 55-year-old and her husband rely on meagre disability pensions to make ends meet.

If we had to pay market rent, there's no way we could do it."

Andrew says his parents are reluctant to give up their two storeys, basement and backyard to live in the future CityHousing apartment.

They've lived 23 years in a house, and then being shoved into a really small apartment, that's maybe one bedroom, they wouldn't like that change."

If one's available, a similar CityHousing townhouse a few kilometres east on Kenora Avenue near Eastgate Square might fit the bill, Jane says.

But down Lang Street from the Walkers, Ellen Campbell plans to stay in the area.

The five years Campbell has spent in her townhouse haven't been without grief. In 2017, the mother of three contacted The Spectator frustrated over a rat infestation in her unit.

I haven't had the best experience here," she reflects during a recent interview in her doorway. And from what I've heard from other people, their units are in a lot worse shape than mine."

Campbell, 34, is loath to move into another worn CityHousing unit and hopes for a four-bedroom apartment in the new building.

Of her three children, 11, 13 and 15, the two oldest boys share a bedroom in the townhouse.

They're teenagers now, and when you get older, you want your own room."

To the south on Reid Avenue, just off Queenston, a one-storey complex for older adults has already been bulldozed, leaving a muddy lot where a bulldozer is parked.

But a 12-unit twin in three rows of squat buildings on Lang Street at the corner of Hayes Avenue still stands.

There's eight of us left," says Ann Mott, 66, noting she's the baby" of her neighbours, who are in their 70s, 80s and 90s.

Some have died, but others have moved elsewhere, Mott says.

I think it's a great sin that they're going to make us move."

Her complex boasts back patios, a courtyard and grass she has shared with her neighbours for the past seven years.

Mott also dreads she won't be able to light up in the future CityHousing building with no balconies that's to be smoke-free.

The future building won't have balconies, but Roxborough Park, which is just north of the former school site, will be revitalized," Hunter said.

Lesley Taylor and late-husband Leonard Brown were once Mott's neighbours, but they transferred to a CityHousing apartment building in Stoney Creek last summer.

It was hard for us when we first moved here," says Taylor, 71, who lost her 89-year-old husband to cancer in January.

Brown, who also had dementia, missed their former home of about five years.

In fact, the couple had moved to the one-storey apartment at Lang and Hayes after she had a heart attack. She couldn't use stairs.

It was lovely," Taylor recalls. I had the tree, so I had the shade. So the women would come over to my place. But yeah, absolutely beautiful. It was like living in the country."

Taylor says her apartment in Stoney Creek is fine, but it's on the fourth floor, which makes her nervous should the elevator not work during an emergency. Another headache, she doesn't have a parking spot.

Back on Lang Street, Laura Roxburgh is ready to pack up and leave.

Roxburgh, her partner, four children and great Dane share a three-bedroom townhouse where the market rent is about $1,200. We're underhoused."

And they have cockroaches, leaks, conflicts with neighbours and crime. The 26-year-old says she wants a clean break.

There's been a lot of traumatic things on this street that I just kind of want to leave behind."

But houses in the private market they've considered rent for around $2,500, Roxburgh says. Add first and last, and utilities. I feel like I'm stuck."

In the meantime, more townhouses will be turned to rubble - in phases.

That will allow tenants to stay as long as possible, CityHousing's Tom Hunter says.

The final phase of the move out is expected to occur in about a year, so the final demo would coincide with that."

Andrew Walker, the young teacher who has spent most of his life on Lang Street, says he'll leave once he lines up full-time work.

He exudes a pride mixed with a postdated melancholy with the pending demolition of the social fabric of his youth.

Walker speaks of how this pocket of the east end has resisted the gentrification that has swept other parts of Hamilton.

I think we're still pretty hard core. We're east-enders," he muses.

But Walker offers optimism that the Roxboro Park experiment might just work out.

I think it's OK as long as there's a chance for people to come together and be a part of the same neighbourhood."

Teviah Moro is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: tmoro@thespec.com

CityHousing projects

The redevelopments at Roxborough Park and Jamesville are the largest projects involving CityHousing properties. But the municipal housing provider has other plans, as well. These are some projects, worth more than $100 million, in various stages of planning and construction:

Queenston

The site of the former City Motor Hotel at the Queenston Road traffic circle has been rubble and weeds since the city expropriated and razed it in 2013. But the plan is for a six-storey CityHousing building with 40 subsidized units for families and singles by the summer of 2023. A second phase calls for 50 one-bedroom units.

Bay-Cannon

A parking lot at Bay Street North and Cannon Street West is where CityHousing plans to reallocate 45 subsidized units from Jamesville in a new six-storey apartment by the fall of 2023. In addition to those, 10 units will be affordable market rental, CityHousing says. The plan calls for 35 one-bedroom units and 20 three-bedroom units for singles and families.

Macassa

A four-storey building with 66 units is planned for near Macassa Lodge on Upper Sherman Avenue. All of the units - 20 are to be affordable market and 46 subsidized - are one-bedroom units for seniors. The target for occupation is spring 2024.

Riverdale

The plan is for 44 studio and one-bedroom apartments for seniors near built atop or near the Dominic Agostino Riverdale Community Centre on Violet Drive off Centennial Avenue near Barton Street East. No date has been set for occupation yet.

MacNab

The revitalized CityHousing tower at 500 MacNab St. N. that was slowly vacated for years is expected to be reopen to seniors this summer. Of the 17-storey building's 146 units, 114 are to be rent-geared-to-income and 32 market rent.

First Place

This project involves the conversion of first-floor commercial space at 350 King St. E. into 15 affordable units for seniors. The target to complete the First Place apartments is this fall to meet deadlines of the federal rapid-housing program, which is providing $2.25 million.

Wellington-King William

Another contender for federal rapid-housing cash, the 20-unit modular-housing development is planned for a 253 King William St. parking lot. The project, which involves environmental testing and remediation, aims for occupancy in the winter of 2022.