Officials with the Tolpuddle Housing Co-operative building in the Old East Village (OEV) are desperate for assistance from London City Hall. On Thursday, the president of the Co-op Board invited CTV News on a tour of the troubled building, but asked that her identity be protected because of threats from drug dealers operating in some apartments. “I’m targeted very often when I remove people from the building,” she explains. “I’m threatened. I’ve actually been physically harmed.” “I’ve been working security for 15 years,” says Denis Nickson who provides security services to the building. “I feel like this is one of my worst sites.” Nickson escorted CTV News through graffiti covered stairwells and hallways, where holes are kicked in the frequently patched drywall. Entering a recently vacated rent-geared-to-income (RGI) apartment reveals virtually nothing can be salvaged. The carpets have been removed from the living room and insect-covered flypaper hangs from the ceiling. Interior doors are pulled off their hinges and the drywall is damaged throughout. Kitchen appliances are broken and the doors are missing from the surrounding cupboards. The glass doors to the balcony are shattered and the wooden deck boards are charred by fire. PHOTO GALLERY: Inside the Tolpuddle Housing Co-op Despite a multi-year waitlist for RGI units in London, a total of 15 apartments in the building remain vacant because of severe damage. The Co-op does not earn enough revenue to fix the damaged units and make other essential repairs to improve the building’s security and livability. “We’re going to need between $1 million and $2 million,” the Co-op Board President says. “This property has been neglected by the City of London for at least a decade,” Opened in 1989, the 134 unit building includes 94 rent-geared-to-income RGI units primarily rented to low-income Londoners, families, seniors, and the disabled. According to the Co-op President, city hall’s housing access waitlist determines which tenants are chosen for RGI units, but some of those individuals have not had their mental health or addictions stabilized prior to moving in. That’s led to some chaotic tenancies that attracted drug use, drug dealing, damage, violence, and trespassing. “They need to be well before they can live independently,” she says. “We are not the first step. We are a piece of the puzzle, but we’re definitely not the first step. We don’t have the resources and skills.” At this week’s meeting of City Council, Coun. Susan Stevenson expressed her concern about the financial and tenancy challenges converging inside an RGI building in her ward. She later confirmed that building is the Tolpuddle Housing Co-op. A report to the Community and Protective Services Committee revealed that 43 per cent of housing providers in London (excluding London Middlesex Community Housing) do not generate sufficient revenue to cover their short-term debts. Stevenson suggested the situation at Tolpuddle is reminiscent of problems experienced inside the troubled public housing building at 122 Baseline Rd. where an audit determined the tenant selection process was responsible for an inappropriate mix of high and low acuity tenants. On Thursday, Stevenson said she intends to bring a motion to an upcoming committee meeting, “The issue needs to be brought before Council for discussion, and with the public, about the funding that we have. The fastest and cheapest way to get units available for people to move into is to fix the ones we have.” The Co-op is inviting members of City Council and Civic Administration to visit the building to see the challenges first-hand. “Council has dropped the ball on this. They need to contact us. We’re willing to sit down and talk to them.”
