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CANADIAN INDUSTRY ONLINE - JANUARY 2014
cluding the Youth Futures project and
the Youth Leadership Project. In ad-
dition, OCH continues to work with
other organizations who support simi-
lar mandates, including the Ontario
Non-Profit Housing Association, the
Canadian Housing and Renewal Asso-
ciation and the Housing Services Cor-
poration (HSC).
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
Without a surplus of government
funding, OCH must work with the
resources it has to improve communi-
ties, something it has done very suc-
cessfully since inception. According to
Poirier, at a material level this means
often encouraging tenants to do minor
repairs themselves, and keep up main-
tenance when they can.
“
We have refinanced many of our
buildings to repair and retrofit some of
our housing, which has an average age
of 40 years. These are not only
tired bathrooms and kitchens
but aging mechanical compo-
nents like boilers,” she notes.
“
One of the things we’re
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working on is managing our housing
portfolio as just that: a portfolio. This
means sometimes selling an aging as-
set in one community to afford to build
a new one in another. In addition, the
needs of our tenants are changing. We
have to be aware of special needs and
the need for accessible units,” Poirier
continues. In addition to serving di-
verse tenant needs, OCH must try to
update inefficiencies where
possible. In the last couple of
years, all 15,000 OCH units’
toilets were replaced because
they were inefficient, which
has resulted in $3 million savings per
year.
“
We have funding shortfalls, but
we are working hard to close the gap,”
Poirier concludes. “We have specific
plans for the next ten years to continue
making our communities better, and
keeping our tenants safe and secure—
and we do this with the entire OCH
network which includes our industry
partners. Housing is a legitimate form
of infrastructure, and we will continue
to improve the lives of our tenants.”
For more information on OCH, visit
OTTAWA COMMUNITY HOUSING
