London's social housing agency needs $456M for aging buildings

The organization that runs social housing in London will need to spend more than $450 million over the next decade to keep its aging buildings in good repair, but that could be a challenge due to a lack of funding.

London andMiddlesex Community Housing (LMCH), formerly known as the London Middlesex Housing Corporation, presented its 2018 annual report to the city's strategic priorities and policy committee on Monday.

LMCH operates more than 3,200 housing units across 32 different properties, with an average age of 50 years, according to the report.

The organization currently only spends $2.2 million in capital funding annually, but the report says it will require $456 million within the next 10 years.

Sean Quigley, LMCH chair, said more than $60 million is for immediate needs.

"This is for high impact building components, which are a heightened risk of failure, will require extensive coordination to correct and will severely impact the building's operation," Quigley said at the committee meeting.

A growing gap

The funding requirementwas a cause for concern for several committee members, including Coun. Phil Squire.

"I've been here for five years and one way or another I've heard the same message almost every year that I've been here, that what you need is a massive influx of money," Squire said.

"These numbers just get larger and every year we come back, the infrastructure gap is bigger and the properties are deteriorating and the gap gets bigger."

Josh Browne, the CEO of LMCH, acknowledged that the subsidized housing model is unsustainable.

"Our revenues have been fixed by the province since 1993, while our costs continue to escalate," Browne said in response to Squire.

He added that LMCH's shareholder agreement with the city needs to be re-examined, to allow the organization to be more "self-sufficient."

LMCH is working on a long-term regeneration strategy to increase access to affordable housing, upgrade existing units and develop underutilized parcels of land.

Browne said the strategy, which "will be based on a sustainable model," will be presented to council at the end of the year.