Heated battle over North Bay senior housing hits city council

North Bay seniors protest Cassellholme's bid to take over their geared-to-income apartments, fearing rent hikes. Eric Taschner has the latest.

There’s an ongoing battle over who should have control of four non-profit housing buildings on Olive Street in North Bay, Ont.

Discussion escalated and was often heated at Tuesday night’s city council meeting between the board of Cassellholme long-term care home and one city councillor for control of the Castle Arms non-profit housing.

The Cassellholme board would like to see the charity that provides housing for a little over 250 seniors under one governing branch.

Residents voice their fears

When CTV News visited Castle Arms, a group of seniors sitting under a gazebo, all talked about the fact that they did not want to see their “beloved home” change ownership.

“The board that’s running Castle Arms is doing a fantastic job,” said Rene Briand, a resident of the facility for seven years.

Dozens of residents attended the council meeting holding ‘Hands Off Our Home’ signs. They said they are worried that oversight changes could mean a sale of the building or higher rent.

A majority of the residents who live at Castle Arms have geared-to-income apartments and express that they cannot afford market rent.

“I have people paying $500 a month at geared-to-income and they say if they had to pay market rent, they’d be homeless or not eating, one of the other,” Briand said.

Throughout the meeting, they groaned, cheered and clapped, leading Mayor Peter Chirico to repeatedly call for order.

“Council needs to say enough is enough,” Briand said.

The case for unified governance

Three members of the Cassellholme board, former city councillor and chairperson Dave Mendicino, board member Jim Bruce and Rick Champagne, who is also the Mayor of East Ferris presented to city council promising that Castle Arms would not be listed for sale if it falls under municipal oversight.

“This is simply not a governance technicality,” Bruce said. “It represents a breach of public trust … Council must take immediate steps to restore democratic oversight.”

The board members claim the Cassellholme board and the Castle Arms board should be under one governing umbrella, which would include representation from member municipalities.

This is how it used to work back in 1986. But that changed in late 2021 when Castle Arms split from municipal representation – a shift prompted by legal advice relating to the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act.

However, this year, a legal opinion has since clarified that the Act does not require Castle Arms and Cassellholme to have separate boards.

“They (municipalities) want these assets back because these are municipal assets that were built on the backs of the taxpayer,” Mendicino said during the presentation. “We had them for 35 years. For 35 years, the boards of Cassellholme and Castle Arms mirrored each other, and they ran exceptionally well.”

The case for independence

But the Castle Arms board has said it wants to stick to its own identity and remain separate from the long-term care home.

“How does an apartment complex benefit the residents of Cassellholme? There’s only one answer: monetize that asset,” said counc. Jamie Lowery.

Lowery is also the executive director at Castle Arms. He said he has all the documents dating back to 1986, including the purchase and sale agreement and noted that nowhere on the forms does it mention Cassellholme.

“They’ve never answered the question as to why they want it and on how they intend the improve the lives of the residents,” Lowery said.

Council seeks a path forward

Council did vote to seek a third-party mediator to try to reach an agreement on restoring public oversight at Castle Arms.

The motion also calls the City of North Bay and other member municipalities to join in seeking “legal and administrative remedies to restore democratic and public oversight of the Castle Arms.” This includes returning Castle Arms governance to its member municipalities.

For the seniors living in the apartment units, they said they feel like they’re caught in the middle of it all.

“It’s time to stand up for seniors and give them their rights,” Briand said. “We’ve worked hard.”