County to replace social housing
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Hastings County has a nine-year plan to replace aging social housing.
Director of social services Steve Gatward said the county is planning to sell off 47 single-family, scattered units and replace them with 50 new multi-residential units in the next nine years.
He said the group was tasked in September 2013 with looking at the single-family units.
“Our single housing units were built back in the 60s and 70s so they’re very expensive to maintain, they’re not energy efficient. For maintenance staff to try and go out and maintain these scattered dwellings, it’s very expensive.”
Gatward said the single-family, detached units will be sold as they move to market, become vacant or over-housed.
“We’ll offer the current tenants who are paying market rent and are living in those homes the first opportunity to purchase. We’ll then open up that opportunity to any other tenants who are paying market rent and are residing in our other social housing.”
The first phase will see 18 units sold and replaced with 14 townhouses constructed on existing properties – North Park, Elgin and Russell streets in Belleville and Gould Street in Trenton. These units will be a mixture of one, two and three bedroom units. The expected cost of each unit is $159,765.
“We’ll realize savings with not having to purchase land, we’ll build those units on existing properties that we have at those four locations,” he said.
The second phase, from 2018 to 2021, will see 16 units sold and 20 new units built in Belleville.
In phase three, from 2022 to 2013, the 13 remaining units will be sold and the final 16 new units will be built in Quinte West.
The expected cost of these units is $180,000 per unit.
The estimated cost savings per year is around $3,000 per unit.
Sue Horwood, director of Finance, said the overall construction costs are estimated at just over $8.7 million with proceeds from the sale of units estimated at around $7.1. Investment in Affordable Housing (IAH) funds of $787,328 will be used to make up some of the shortfall.
Horwood said there will be an estimated $141,000 in annual savings.
Of the 50 new units, three will be family units, expanding the county’s social housing portfolio. Gatward said benefits to tenants include living in new, energy efficient and environmentally friendly housing; preventing social isolation from neighbours due to the stigma attached to living in social housing; encouraging positive community relationships and allowing service providers to bring support services to multiple tenants simultaneously.