Long lists and high rent. A Sandwich Town family's struggle to find affordable housing
Talissa Nuckles says she was told there was a 10 to 15 year waitlist for social housing in the city
It's a very cramped household in a two-bedroom apartment in Windsor, Ont.'s Sandwich Town as Talissa Nuckles, her husband and four children prepare for a fifth to soon enter the family.
"It seems like nobody's trying to help," she said, holding her youngest on her lap.
Nuckles said she has been on the hunt for a big enough home, but finding something suitable for her large family has proven to be challenging. Right now their two-bedroom place, in a building she has lived in for about eight years in different units, is overflowing with family members and their belongings.
"I've got two cribs in my bedroom beside my bed, and if I were to stick another crib in my room, it's done, there's nowhere to walk," she said, later adding that that is the current plan, a third crib to be added to the bedroom.
Nuckels is currently a recipient of Ontario Disability Support Program and her husband has had difficulty finding employment in the restaurant industry during the pandemic. She is on the wait list for social housing in the city, but she says she was recently told it would be an exceptionally long wait for them to get a suitable place.
"Now I've got to wait up to 10 to 15 years," Nuckles said of a recent discussion regarding her place on the wait list to get housing. "That's a long time to stay in a two bedroom apartment with five children."
Lacking storage space, many of the family's belongings are stacked up in the living room and in the hallway.
"There's nowhere to put it," she said.
The list has been growing, certainly, in the last couple of years... because you're seeing rents increase in the city,- Kirk Whittal, executive director of Housing and Children Services with the city
Nuckles said she wants to stay in the west end of the city because that's where she was born and raised. Right now the family is spending just under $800 for rent but they could afford up to $1,800. In today's market, she said, there are no opportunities for something large enough for the entire family and the newborn at that price.
"They told me I couldn't get the house because of our credit score," she said of a recent rental they checked out. "It's kind of not fair for people with low-income and [landlords] basing on their income and their credit score that you can't get a house."
Searching for solutions
"It's a huge concern," Ward 2 councillor Fabio Costante said of the current waiting list for social housing in the community.
Costante pointed out the Meadowbrook affordable housing project and some rapid housing initiatives the city has partnered with the federal government on as examples of ways they've been able to bring more affordable housing to the mix.
"We need to continue in this regard."
The councillor and others in the Sandwich Town area have long been pushing for affordable housing to be put in where blocks of houses bought up by the owners of the Ambassador Bridge have been left vacant and boarded up.
"If I had a magic wand, I would turn all of those homes and activate them," Costante said, adding that the city should be continuing to pursue things like density projects and brownfield developments around the community.
"Government's role is two-fold in this: One is to create an environment that incentivizes private developers to build more and more housing," he said. "The second piece is collaboration with upper levels of government to directly invest in social and affordable housing."
About 6,000 people waiting for a home
"The bottom line is in the community there certainly isn't enough social housing units for the demand that's needed in the community," said Kirk Whittal, executive director of Housing and Children Services for the City of Windsor.
When asked about the 10 to 15 year wait for a place, Whittal said they would typically not give a timeline like that to someone that was asking and there are many factors that would factor into the length of time someone might be left waiting on the list. He also added that the waiting list for social housing right now in the community is long — at around 6,000 applications.
"The list has been growing, certainly, in the last couple of years... because you're seeing rents increase in the city," said Whittal.
He said that when it comes to larger families, it can be challenging as there aren't many four of five bedroom places available as social housing.
"Around 150 out of 5,000 to 6,000 units," he said.
When Nuckles' situation was described to him, Whittal first pointed toward Housing Information Systems, an organization that works to match landlords with affordable properties with potential tenants, that could be of help.
He also said that funding announced in the recent federal budget for housing could go a long way to benefit Windsor.
"Certainly, trying to build units quickly is challenging in this market for sure, but when these kind of programs get announced, we certainly look at them because we do recognize the need and want to try to increase the stock in the community," said Whittal.
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