City and agencies wrestled over tenant placements as public housing project became one of London’s worst

New insights at city hall over the decisions leading to a ‘dangerous’ mix of tenants in a public housing building. CTV London’s Daryl Newcombe reports.

City staff are sharing new insights into the decisions that led to a dangerous mix of tenants inside one of London’s newest public housing buildings.

On Thursday, council’s Governance Working Group (GWG) once again discussed the results of an independent audit report that detailed the lessons learned since the 61-unit building at 122 Baseline Rd. W., opened in early 2022.

In February, the audit determined that a problematic mix of tenants was moved into the building even though it was never designed for highly supportive housing.

54 per cent homeless or at risk of homelessness

23 per cent dealing with mental health/addiction issues

23 per cent women and children fleeing domestic violence

“My understanding is there were agencies using housing first, [and] the housing stability workers, that were placing people in that building,” Coun. Susan Stevenson told colleagues on GWG.

City staff admitted that when the building was first being occupied, there wasn’t clarity about who had the ultimate authority to choose which prospective tenants received a unit.

“Some of the challenges that we had, there was a struggle between the agreements and who actually was selecting the tenants,” explained Matt Feldberg, director Municipal Housing Development.

A lack of alignment between City Hall, London Middlesex Community Housing (LMCH), and social service agencies resulted in the initial tenant mix.

“The city makes a recommendation to the property manager, which is LMCH. The agencies were also advocating on behalf of the tenants that they wanted to serve,” added Feldberg.

Based on the lessons learned from the audit report, LMCH was given control of its own tenant mix when its newest building opened on Sylvan Street last year.

However, members of GWG still recommended having staff return to their next meeting with the tenant placement policies for other public housing.

At that time GWG will determine if a citywide policy needs to be developed to prevent similar mistakes in the future.

The date of the next GWG meeting has yet to be determined.

“Where Governance [Working Group] really wants to look into these [tenant mix] policies is how do we do it?” explained Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis after the meeting. “There’s a reason that highly supportive housing is provided by specialized providers like Indwell, because of their experience [and] their staffing.”

City Hall contributed $3.7 million of the $19.1 million construction cost at 122 Baseline Rd. W.

Although the building was designed as affordable housing for people requiring few support services, auditors determined it was occupied with high-acuity tenants to qualify for federal Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI) funding.

In 2022, the building had an annual maintenance budget of $444,000, however, two years later the amount rose by 35 per cent.

Last June, residents complained to CTV News about rampant drug use, violence, insects, and graffiti.

A month later, 48-year-old tenant Darko Lukic died in hospital after being found critically injured outside the building - four people have been charged in relation to his death.