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They have become the second largest housing provider in Elgin county by continuing to build affordable housing units. Something they have done over the past four decades.
And now, Eastwood Housing Corporation and Doug Tarry Homes are partnering to expand the stock of affordable and safe housing in St. Thomas.
According to St. Thomas Elgin Social Services, the wait time to access social housing is anywhere from two to nine years.
Highview Hideaway, to rise at 220 Highview Drive, will ease that backlog somewhat through the addition of 82 affordable housing units.
Jon McCurry, Eastwood’s Director of Operations details the scope of Eastwood’s existing projects.
“There are 325 units across Elgin county. There are 11 properties, one of which is in Aylmer (Elkview Gardens). That is our newest acquisition.
“The other 10 are here in St. Thomas. And, we’ve been building and growing since 1982.”
He documents the evolution of Eastwood Housing over that time.
“So it started as the folks from Eastwood Baptist Church saw an opportunity to have housing for seniors. And, that was our first building at 410 Wellington Street.
“And then it just grew from there with CMHC approaching the board of Eastwood Housing at that point and we created 405 Wellington.
“And then the owners of 150 First Avenue approached to take over that. That was originally built as condominiums but it didn’t sell and the owners of that building didn’t want to be landlords, so they offered it to us.
“Then the owners of what was a cooperative housing corporation for 3 South Edgeware approached Eastwood Housing to take over that property and so we did.
“And then the province approached us to build what is now 180 South Edgeware and 200 Burwell Road.
“After that, we were approached by St. Anne’s Catholic Church, they owned 17 Morrison Drive to take it over because they didn’t want to be in the landlord business anymore, so we absorbed that one.
“In the last eleven and a half years that I’ve been here, we purchased a house on Forest Avenue and we have purchased 318 Wellington which is a four-plex.
“And last July, we acquired Elkview Gardens, which is in Aylmer.
“The idea is, once we get this building up and running, we want to design a building we can just replicate. This would be a template and, God willing, we would put up another one, and then another one and another one.”
The five-storey apartment complex to be known as Highview Hideaway will feature 82 studio, one- and two-bedroom rental apartment units, all at 79 per cent or lower of CMHC market rates.
A unique feature, explains McCurry will be the use of modular construction.
“This building will be modular built, so it’s literally going to arrive on flatbed trucks. Our construction company is telling us within about six to eight weeks you will see a building appear on this site.
“But that’s just the structure, you won’t be able to move in but it is going up very fast.”
All units will be built to Net Zero Ready Standard with the goal of full Net Zero in the future by using solar energy.
The apartments on Highview will serve as a template for future builds, adds McCurry.
“The idea is, once we get this building up and running, we want to design a building we can just replicate.
“This would be a template and, God willing, we would put up another one, and then another one and another one.
“We’ve had conversations on where these could go in the city already, but nothing is official until we get this one up and going.”
The project will join the existing Eastwood residential communities in St. Thomas and Aylmer.
“We have camps here in the summertime, we have barbecues in the summertime.
“At our seniors’ properties, we have quarterly events from strawberries and ice cream in June to a full Christmas dinner in December to apple pie and ice cream at Easter.
“And then they do card nights and bingo nights and the VON comes into some of them and runs exercise programs.
“So, they are communities.”
The building will include an on-site community room, storage lockers, laundry facilities and pickleball courts.
McCurry hopes construction will begin this summer with full occupancy in mid-2026.
Eastwood Housing Corp. will own and operate the property and provide all tenant and maintenance services.
The projected cost of the undertaking is just over $28 million, with the City of St. Thomas contributing $3 million (a $5 million contribution from the city reported in the original version of this story has been updated).
Eastwood is a Christian, non-profit, charitable organization that also works with the YWCA in providing three townhouse units for families and a pair of townhouses for youth experiencing homelessness.
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CITY GROWTH AND THE LEFTOVER POT
Last week in this corner we previewed the Growth Analysis Study, City of St. Thomas prepared by Watson & Associates, Economists Ltd. and presented to city council at the June 10 meeting.
The lengthy deputation generated considerable input and questions from council members.
Coun. Lori Baldwin-Sands directed her query to fellow councillor Steve Peters as to whether St. Thomas had experienced such rapid growth in its history.
“My only comparison,” noted Peters, “would be between 1871 and 1881 when the railways came to St. Thomas. The population in 1871 was about 1,800 people and by 1881 it was 10,000 people.
“We saw a tremendous boom in both commercial and residential as a result of the railway, so 150 years ago would be your answer.”
“And, to me, one of the components we’re missing going forward and I think we need to bring all this together is, what is the financial plan going to be for the city to deal with all these things?”
Peters continued with a critical question of his own.
“In the report, there are no financial implications associated with council adopting this report. That’s fine.
“But, there are financial implications weaved all through this report. They are weaved through a transportation master plan, an official plan, a land needs study, and a commercial study.
“And, to me, one of the components we’re missing going forward and I think we need to bring all this together is, what is the financial plan going to be for the city to deal with all these things?
“How are we going to pay for it? I caught that growth is going to pay for growth. But we’re not even looking at the infrastructure requirements, the education requirements, the healthcare requirements, recreational requirements.
“The commercial needs that are going to have to come out of this. And, we don’t even look at the impact on Elgin county on this.
“We’re focussing in on our own impact. I look at the agreement we just made with Central Elgin and that’s going to eat up part of our reserves for infrastructure.
“So at what point do we pull this all together and start to lay out what is the financial plan going to be to pay for all of this?
“And start a plan for all these things because we’re getting a pretty good idea of when things are going to ramp up.
“We got to start working now to be ready to go in three or four year’s time. So, how are we going to pay for all of this?
Peters hit the jackpot with his line of questioning and it’s the type of questions ratepayers should likewise be directing toward the mayor and councillors.
The questions were directed to new city manager Michael Bradley, who advised in the near future, a strategic action plan will be presented to council.
“And one of the items I am going to be putting into is once we’re done finalizing all these exercises, and once the financial matrix is completed for the Yarmouth Yards business park, we’re going to propose to do, what I would call a master 20-year financial plan.
“And what that will show you is what are your available cash resources over a 20-year period, what inputs you have and what projected expenses do we see based on those plans and then what is left over.
“And what that will show you is what are your available cash resources over a 20-year period, what inputs you have and what projected expenses do we see based on those plans and then what is left over.”
“And that leftover will help with some larger capital plans around recreational services, housing and things like that.”
We can all only hope there are plenty of funds to put into that leftover pot.
And that it’s not the situation so many city households are facing of too much month at the end of the money.
SURVEY PRODUCES AN URGENT CALL FROM EDUCATORS
A news release this past week from Canadian Occupational Safety contained alarming results from a recent survey.
Alarming in the sense it is not information made available publicly by the London-centred Thames Valley District School Board.
“People who’ve had pieces of their scalp ripped out, broken bones, chunks of skin bitten off, scratching, spitting — you name it. The psychological harm is just as severe, if not more so.”
The survey was undertaken by the Ontario Secondary School Teacher’s Federation (OSSTF) and the results spotlighted a significant increase in violence within the province’s public schools.
According to the survey, 75 per cent of federation members report an increase in incidents of violence since they began working, with 31% having personally experienced physical injury.
This has prompted urgent calls for action from education professionals and policymakers alike.
OSSTF president Karen Littlewood noted the violence is not just physical but also psychological.
“People who’ve had pieces of their scalp ripped out, broken bones, chunks of skin bitten off, scratching, spitting — you name it. The psychological harm is just as severe, if not more so.”
The survey included responses from over 6,500 members working in public schools from kindergarten to Grade 12.
Among the most affected are women and those in direct support roles, such as education assistants and child and youth workers.
The news release notes, that the lack of resources and accountability has exacerbated these issues, with many education professionals considering leaving the profession due to the untenable working conditions.
The survey results and the OSSTF media release have prompted calls for amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act to make it more specific to the education sector.
Littlewood advised, “We really need some sort of amendment or something that would be education sector-specific.”
“We have a really hard time first of all just telling our members that they need to report incidents when they happen.”
The OSSTF has proposed four measures to address rising violence in schools.
Emergency safe school funding: Allocate Planning Provision funding, currently at $1.39 billion, to create an Emergency Safe School Fund. This fund would bring in more qualified staff, such as professional student support personnel and education assistants.
Stay and learn program: Create a dedicated tuition waiver to attract students into education programs for occupations experiencing shortages, similar to programs in healthcare and long-term care.
Data transparency: Demand that the Ford government release data on serious student incident reports, risk assessments, and the Ministry of Labour’s workplace violence inspection blitz conducted in early 2023.
Safe school action table: Commit to the development of a Safe School Action Plan with a Community and Stakeholder Action Table that includes OSSTF/FEESO and other education unions.
Earlier this month we reported on city council’s game plan for the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) annual conference Aug. 18-21 in Ottawa.
The city delegation has requested a meeting with the Ministry of Education to discuss community policing programs such as School Resource Officers on behalf of the St. Thomas Police Service, which has experienced increased violence within city schools.
They request, according to the report presented to city council, “the Ministry take decisive action to instruct all school boards that the invitation for police officers to attend schools to support safe school communities, deter crime, and bridge the gaps between police and our youth is not open for review any longer.”
In 2021, both the TVDSB and the London District Catholic School Board paused their allowance for police officers to attend their schools except for emergency purposes.
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FOR THE CALENDAR
The city is refreshing its Transportation Master Plan to accommodate future growth.
According to city staff, “Generally, Transportation Master Plans examine current transportation issues, assess existing and future growth patterns, determine the need for transportation improvements, and establish policies to support the plan and maintain the transportation network.
As such, a public open house is being held on June 25 from 4 until 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Arena to allow residents to ask questions and discuss their ideas with members of the project team.
More information on the Transportation Master Plan can be found here.
The St. Thomas & District Chamber of Commerce is hosting its annual MP & MPP Luncheon on June 27th.
This year it is being held at the Elgin County Railway Museum beginning at 11:30 a.m.
There is no shortage of federal issues to bounce off Vecchio, including the much-maligned carbon tax.
And, no doubt, Flack would gladly talk about his new role as Minister of Farming, Agriculture and Agribusiness.
For more details or to register for the event click here.
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