Essex to look into implementing affordablehousing subsidy to help non-profits leverage grants

by Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative

Though there were some concerns around the table, Council for the Town of Essex unanimously supported Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy in directing Administration to investigate options for an affordable housing subsidy program. 

The idea is to have it available to help nonprofits that supply existing affordable residential units in the community leverage grant dollars from upper-levels of government.

  The program will be included in the 2026 Town of Essex Budget document for deliberation.

  Bondy brought this forward as a Notice of Motion originally at the November 3 meeting, and it was passed during the November 18 meeting.

  While the Town’s Affordable Housing Task Force will work on creating an Affordable Housing Strategy in 2026, there will not be any achievable action items within reach. Bondy wanted to get a win in 2026 and believed moving forward with this subsidy program could achieve that. 

  Though she said it is not a lot of money, “it could get some work done, where we could leverage that money to help existing affordable housing units in the municipality, particularly in Essex Centre. 

  Bondy wants to earmark $12,500 for the subsidy program, though she also noted during the meeting Council still has $8,000 in its Contingency Fund that could be used.

  She said the program could be open to non-profit housing organizations in Essex that could apply for funding from the municipality to put towards an engineering assessment to trigger a grant from an upper-tier of government. The engineering report needs to be done before they can apply for a grant from the provincial or federal governments.

  “If we are going to have any gains in affordable housing, we need to maintain the existing stock that we already have here,” Bondy said. “This is a small token to leverage assets that already exist in our community.”

  Though she knows it is hard to justify spending taxpayer dollars on affordable homes, to her this is a no-brainer on keeping affordable housing in the community.

  Director of Planning Services, Lori Chadwick, said, for example, there are units with Essex Non-Profit that could potentially become uninhabitable within the next 18 to 24-months. Based on current conditions, up to 67 units could become uninhabitable by 2030.

  Bondy said she has seen some of the units, noting there are walls that are falling in and are being propped up by wood.

  Chadwick added there could be eligibility requirements outlined as part of the subsidy grant.

  While Councillor Katie McGuire-Blais recognizes the importance of affordable housing, she did not believe a municipal subsidy program was the way to address the issue. She would prefer to see this brought to County of Essex Council to consider as part of the Large Scale Industrial Grant Matching program it is establishing, as it is open to additional Community Improvement Plan (CIP) programs, including regional affordable housing strategies. 

  She also encouraged the Mayor and Deputy Mayor to talk to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing about the shortfall first.

  “I believe municipalities cannot and should not be expected to backfill this funding gap and place the burden on our local taxpayers,” McGuire-Blais said.

  Bondy said the County would not help with this. She believes the County will point the finger to the City of Windsor as the Service Manager for housing. The City will point the finger to the Province, which she said is not listening

  Alternatively, Councillor Kim Verbeek supported Bondy’s motion. She is on the Affordable Housing Task Force and said members heard there are units in Essex that are deteriorating rapidly. There are grants available, but they are unable to get them because they come up quickly, and they have to get an engineering report that is going to cost $1500-$2000 to assist with the grant writing. Each unit is at a different level of need.

  While Councillor Jason Matyi believes this is an upper-level of government responsibility, sometimes when a push is needed the municipality needs to show its willingness to go to bat. He wondered if the money through the subsidy program could be handed-out via a committee of Council.

  Councillor Rodney Hammond asked how it could be assured the occupant on the lease is occupying the unit and not subletting it out, and are indeed vulnerable and need housing.

  In answering Councillor Joe Garon’s question if there are similar programs in existence in Ontario, Chadwick said there are. They are offered through various affordable housing CIPs  in communities throughout the province.

  Deputy Mayor Rob Shepley supports affordable housing. The issue he has is the Town does not have a plan. He would like to see one before the dollars are allocated. It needs to be done responsibly.

  Councillor Brad Allard saw this as a positive in being able to help the residents get upper-level grants.

  Members of Essex’s Affordable Housing Task Force, Rachael Mills and Fred Groves, advocated for the program before Council took the vote.

  Ontario, Groves said, is the only province or territory in Canada in which housing is the responsibility of individual municipalities and not the upper-tiers of government.

  “It may seem a daunting task to achieve affordable housing, but our think tank believes – with your support – it is one in which we can set a standard of leadership for others to follow.”

  One way to support that via subsidies is assistance to ensure the current stock of affordable housing units in Essex is maintained.

  “Our task force has been advised, without financial incentives that will lead to necessary repairs, several of our local affordable units will become unfit to inhabit,” Groves explained, noting the Essex Affordable Housing Task Force hopes to rely on Council’s best judgement as budget deliberations are entered.

  Mills said Bondy’s Motion presents an important leadership opportunity for the Town of Essex.

  In Essex, she said, there are affordable units already homes to residents who want to remain safely housed.

  “Several of these homes are now at risk of becoming uninhabitable without timely repairs,” she said. “When we lose existing units, we fall further behind and the people that are impacted are often those with the fewest options and require the most support in our community.”