As of 2021, the County of Simcoe’s social housing wait-list sits at 4,400 families or individuals waiting for a place to call home.
However, the county has recently received word that some provincial and federal funding has come through that should help chip away at the ever-expanding list.
In report received during Tuesday’s committee of the whole meeting, councillors were told the County of Simcoe has recently received word that three specific funding boosts will be coming through from the provincial and federal governments which will be spent on much-needed repairs to social housing units, a program that could make a dent in the social housing wait list and more funding to create secondary suites in Simcoe County.
“(The wait-list) is higher than it has been before. However, with many of our programs... requiring that individuals be on the wait-list for socialized housing, they’ve been signing up. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword,” Arfona Zwiers, the county's director of social housing, said in an interview. “But it does, for sure, reflect the effect of the pandemic on households living with low to moderate incomes.”
There are five key funding streams outlined in the report: The Canada-Ontario Community Housing Initiative (COCHI), the Ontario Priorities Housing Initiative (OPHI), and the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit (COHB). These three streams together will represent $5.2 million in spending.
Two other streams which also provide money for housing programs were also included in the report, but had already been previously reported upon to council: the Strong Communities Rent Supplement Program ($689,764) and the Service Manager Federal Funding for Social Housing ($5,321,698). Both of these funding amounts were incorporated into the social housing component of the 2022 county budget.
The Canada-Ontario Community Housing Initiative is a multi-year initiative that has been granted to the county over the past four years. In 2022/23, the county will be receiving $892,661 through this program.
“This is money that is available specifically to support this historical social housing portfolio,” said Zwiers. “That money will be spent supporting life-safety systems within a few of our housing providers.”
Specifically, some of the funding will be earmarked for urgent repairs needed in units reserved for Indigenous people, and other urgent repairs. Zwiers said the county is currently in discussions with those providers to confirm details.
The Ontario Priorities Housing Initiative is also a multi-year initiative, with the 2022-23 allocation coming to the county totalling $2.775 million.
The county plans to split this funding to support a few different endeavours, including $237,000 for social housing repairs, $500,000 to a program that helps homeowners create and renovate secondary suites to add to the affordable housing stock county-wide and $1.9 million that will go toward acquiring and renovating new rental social housing units across Simcoe County.
Some of this funding could be used to reduce the overall costs of affordable housing projects already announced in the county, such as the Bradford West Gwillimbury affordable housing build on Simcoe Road. Previous investments of Ontario Priorities Housing Initiative funding include the Orillia affordable housing build on West Street.
“We have a couple of different projects we are considering for this funding, which will be considered at a future council meeting,” said Zwiers. “Out of the entire amount, the vast majority – approximately $2.4 million – will be used to create new units.”
Lastly, the county will receive $1,532,500 in 2022 through the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit to support a special rent supplement program. This program is separate from the county’s existing rent supplement/housing allowance program, where arrangements are made between the county and landlords.
Under the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit program, which has been in effect for two years, the county identifies households to apply for the benefit and assists them in the application process.
In order to be eligible, households must be on the social housing waiting list. Approved households will be removed from the list once they are successful. Successful households will receive funding to support first and last month’s rent deposits.
“The benefit is paid to the actual household by the ministry of finance. Our role is to recommend to the province households that fall within the eligibility criteria,” said Zwiers. “This is a way for the county to chip away at the centralized wait list for social housing.”
Prioritization for the program is given to vulnerable household types such as survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking, people who are homeless or are at-risk of homelessness, Indigenous persons, seniors, and people with disabilities. Zwiers said the county expects to serve a few hundred households with the funding.
“This year, in particular, we are going to use the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit to help support the sheltering system as we come to the end of the pandemic. As we move people away from shelter and into permanent housing, we can use the benefit as a tool to help make that happen,” she said.
Through the county’s 10-Year Affordable Housing Strategy which started in 2014, the county has committed to creating 2,685 new affordable housing units across the county as a way to address the affordable housing crisis in Simcoe County.
At the end of 2021, the county created more than 2,500 units, and is on track to exceed the overall goal by 2024.
“We anticipate creating more than 2,900 new units by 2024,” said Zwiers.
However, a lot has changed over the past 10 years in regards to affordability in the region.
“It is absolutely true that the pandemic has shone a spotlight on the dire circumstances low- to moderate-income households have found themselves in,” said Zwiers. “We are going into the next round of planning for our next 10-year strategy, and we look forward to being able to address the challenges that are in front of us.”
