No Quick Fix: $110M gap to bring LMCH public housing up to ‘good' condition

CTV News

3 days ago

A recently completed Asset Management Plan (AMP) has determined that bringing public housing operated by London Middlesex Community Housing (LMCH) up to a 'good' condition would require up to $110 million over the next decade.
A condition assessment of 31 residential properties generated an overall grade of 'poor', with none evaluated as being in 'good' or 'very good' condition.
According to the report, seven were in 'fair' condition, 18 in 'poor' condition, and six in 'very poor' condition.
'These assets are a different type of asset because there's a human factor here-- people live in these units,' Councillor Sam Trosow told colleagues on the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee.
Councillor Hadleigh McAlister, who also sits on the LMCH Board, explained, 'Many of these properties were built in the 1960s and 1970s. So, all of these properties are falling into the same trap, which is aging infrastructure.'
Escaping that financial trap will be costly.
The AMP determined it will cost $6.4 million to simply maintain the overall 'poor' condition and not slip into 'very poor' over the next 10 years.
Making improvements to achieve an overall 'fair' condition would boost the 10-year cost to $34.6 million.
An estimated $110.3 million would need to be spent over the next decade to improve to an overall 'good' condition.
'These are discussions that have to happen through the multi-year budget, because they have ramifications in terms of the financial impacts,' said McAlister.
Mayor Josh Morgan suggested there is no quick fix.
'There is not going to be a plan that is going to bring that gap to zero in a short period of time,' Morgan told colleagues on SPPC. 'It would require significant investment from other levels of government, and those other levels of government know that this is a challenge many municipalities have.'
The mayor cited financial investments made in the 2020-2023 budget as an indication that there's a commitment to address the problem.
'Work through 2025 will have over $60 million in capital repair investments into our community—so that work has begun,' said Paul Chisholm, CEO of LMCH after the meeting. 'The data tells us there's more work (and) that we need to up the level of maintenance and capital work we do.'
City staff will provide LMCH with support, assisting LMCH in developing action plans to implement recommendations in the short, medium, and long-term.
The committee voted to receive the report.