Council backs $5.7-million plan to repair 476 empty CityHousing units

Council has backed a financial plan to cover the $5.7-million cost of repairing 476 CityHousing Hamilton units that are sitting vacant.

Coun. Nrinder Nann's motion to tap city reserves and use a hydro dividend surplus among other funding sources was met with unanimous support Wednesday.

It's work like this, when we are able to be so clearly aligned around our value set as a city council, around pushing what we all know is the challenge before us," she said.

With the financing mapped out, the hope is to bring those much needed" 476 units occupied within 18 months, said Nann, who's CityHousing's new board president.

Last term, Nann said, she and Coun. Maureen Wilson tried in vain to get a handle on how many CityHousing units sat vacant and what it would take to repair them.

The plan comes as Hamilton's centralized wait list for subsidized units sits at 6,110 households as of Dec. 31.

Last month, new CityHousing CEO Adam Sweedland said the 476 units, which include apartments, townhouses, semis and singles, have been empty for six months to three years.

The repair backlog has resulted from unit turnover competing with other demands, such as improving security and day-to-day maintenance, Sweedland said.

But the municipal housing provider, which has about 7,000 units overall, is working on a comprehensive strategy to ensure an acceptable pace" of unit turnover, he noted.

As well as $2.79 million in hydro dividends and $900,000 in CityHousing reserve funding, the $5.7-million repair will draw on roughly $1 million in Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation dollars.

CityHousing is also to receive a $1-million conditional grant from the city to be repaid from the housing services budget over 10 years with an interest rate of 3.86 per cent. That will translate into a net levy impact of $122,433 starting in 2025.

Coun. John-Paul Danko said he was shocked" to learn about the 476 vacant units and that they could be rehabilitated to house residents in the middle of a housing crisis for $5.7 million.

And how did we not do this years ago is a question for another day."

The repair of the vacant units is one of several priorities in a housing road map" meant to tackle Hamilton's affordability crunch that council also endorsed Wednesday.

Teviah Moro is a reporter at The Spectator. tmoro@thespec.com