Nov. 24, 2024
The 24-unit modular build on King William Street is a “good example of what’s possible” when it comes to supportive housing, Indwell CEO Jeff Neven says.
Cathie Coward The Hamilton Spectator
Take a look at 257 King William St. — a new 24-unit supportive-housing building in downtown Hamilton that has started to welcome residents — and you’ll find what the city needs to turn the tide on unsheltered homelessness.
So says Jeff Neven, CEO of Indwell, which is providing on-site support services for the three-storey CityHousing modular building near Wellington Street North — part of the non-profit’s portfolio that provides supportive housing for more than 550 people in Hamilton.
“This project is a good example of what’s possible, but unfortunately, 24 units is just not enough,” Neven told city officials this week.
“The only way we’re going to get out of the encampment and homelessness situation is if we create supportive housing,” he said, urging more emphasis be placed on the mammoth task in Hamilton’s upcoming budget.
More is on the way, the city’s housing secretariat said in an update this week that touched on the new office’s co-ordinated efforts on the sprawling file through various municipal divisions.
The secretariat — which operates under the auspices of a new housing strategic plan known as a “road map” — serves as a city division that evaluates housing applications vying for municipal support.
Unfortunately, 24 units is just not enough.
So far, the secretariat has received 42 eligible submissions representing 2,576 “potential” units of affordable and supportive housing through an online “portal” launched last December.
And of those, municipal contribution toward the construction of roughly 885 units have been approved, “pending the finalization of agreements,” noted a report before council Wednesday.
“We’re hopeful to have those agreements in place in the month of December,” housing secretariat director Justin Lewis told The Spectator after an upbeat presentation that celebrated the city’s achievements toward the road map.
The strategy stands on four “pillars”: new construction, acquiring “at risk” rentals, preserving existing affordable stock, increasing supply through supports.
The road map draws on various funding envelopes, including the federal $93.5-million, four-year federal Housing Accelerator Fund, which is expected to help build 2,675 units “across the housing continuum” through incentives.
Council has also set aside $31 million over three years with the specific goal of supporting the construction of 200 supportive housing units through the city’s non-profit partners, such as Indwell, YWCA, Sacajawea and Good Shepherd.
It has also committed $4 million a year that’s to be allocated to projects via the secretariat’s evaluation process with municipal contributions in various forms, including grants, waived fees or provision of land.
In parallel, the city’s real-estate division is reviewing municipal land that could be made available for “nominal” amounts to non-profit to build affordable housing, including six initial properties identified last year.
On deck, is the development of a two-year pilot project that will help non-profits purchase affordable rental housing that’s “at risk” of escalating rates through property sales, for instance.
St. Matthew’s House’s is finishing up a six-storey, 15-unit building at 412 Barton St. E., another modular build that’s expected to open near Wentworth Street North in March.
St. Matthew’s House is developing a six-storey, 15-unit affordable-housing building at 412 Barton St. E. in a vacant lot where its old food bank once stood next to its headquarters.
Cathie Coward The Hamilton Spectator
The social-service agency decided to build the deeply affordable residence for Black and Indigenous seniors in a lot left vacant with the demolition of its former food bank building next door.
So far, St. Matthew’s infill development, or “pocket housing,” has received $7.6 million in municipal fee waivers, federal rapid housing dollars and provincial funding, executive director Renée Wetselaar noted.
The project sprung from talks with the African Canadian Caribbean Association and Hamilton Regional Indian Centre, Wetselaar told council ahead of Lewis’s presentation.
“And we ran to the finish line because of the road map.”
A key consideration for non-profits vying for upper-level government funding is municipal commitment to projects, a crucial ingredient that has been haphazard or missing, spurring complaints from agencies in recent years.
Lewis noted “letters of intent” to eligible applicants show the “city’s at the table” for projects.
But the secretariat has listened to feedback that “we need to do better” through a new process, he said.
“We are looking to ensure that those agreements for those not-for-profit operators to have housing come to fruition.”
St. Matthew’s House is developing a six-storey, 15-unit affordable-housing building at 412 Barton St. E. in a vacant lot where its old food bank once stood next to its headquarters.
St. Matthew’s House rendering
Federal dollars are flowing, Lewis said, but noted funding from the Ontario government is lacking, specifically for mental-health and addictions services needed for supportive units.
During a stop in Hamilton for an unrelated announcement Friday, Premier Doug Ford said his government has committed more than $700 million to homelessness across the province, including $28 million in Hamilton.
“I want to give them shelter. I want to give them help. I want to give them a hand up,” Ford said of those who are homeless. “Most importantly, I want to get them a good paying job to get them out of the situation they’re in. That’s what I want to do.”
But Mayor Andrea Horwath there’s “no doubt” provincial dollars are needed to create more supportive housing.
“And there’s no doubt the city well utilizes the $28 million that the premier referenced, but that number is reflective of a community (from) a couple of years ago. Our community has changed significantly in terms of the need.”
It is time for the budget to reflect the critical need and the shortage of supportive permanent housing as basic infrastructure.
Hamilton expects 2024’s overall spending on homelessness and housing across various divisions, and including in-year council approvals, to be $186 million, which is $39 million more than in 2023.
Of that, $41 million is from the provincial government and $20 million from Ottawa, with the city covering about $125 million, or 67 per cent.
Neven, meanwhile, during a budget-feedback session earlier this week, expressed the frustration of trying to align various funding envelopes.
Projects can face the hurdle of co-ordinating capital funding with provincial health dollars, the latter an application process that comes late in the development process.
“You essentially have to build them on spec, and then go after the province after that,” said Neven, describing how the late-stage gamble of securing funding can put projects at risk.
For 257 King William St., a more than $14-million capital project, Indwell is committed to working with the city to have the residence’s health-support costs “rightfully transferred” to the province, he said.
In September 2023, council approved $1.2 million in annual funding for support services at the building “until a provincial commitment for these costs can be obtained,” CityHousing CEO Adam Sweedland noted via email.
Through his budget address, Neven said he also aimed to dispel the notion that supportive housing costs too much money, noting Indwell received $1.4 million last year for operations.
“Or put it another way, that works out to about $7 per person per day for the folks that we provide supportive housing to.”
Moreover, most of Indwell’s funding comes in the form of rental subsidies that flow through the municipality from higher levels of government, Neven said.
“By my count, Indwell received approximately less than $100,000 that’s directly from the Hamilton levy last year. That works out to about 40 cents per person per day to provide housing and support services at Indwell.”
Meanwhile, only 15 supportive units “by our entire sector,” are under construction in Hamilton, said Neven, referring to the St. Matthew’s House project on Barton.
“It is time for the budget to reflect the critical need and the shortage of supportive permanent housing as basic infrastructure.”
Horwath said she wished the city had a “pot a gold” to dish out funding to non-profits “to get that housing built as quickly as possible.”
But the secretariat’s work is finding “various pathways to make improvements,” she said, noting applicants in the past worked to “line up” councillor votes to land funding without proper analysis of proposals.
—With files from Matthew Van Dongen