TCH promises to begin repairs on broken ramp

Ramp repairs at a TCHC building has left a man with cancer stranded inside his home.

The Toronto Community Housing Corporation is promising to start repairs on a broken access ramp that has been hindering the independence of community housing residents for more than a month.

TCH officials told CTV Toronto that residents of 11 Newbold Ave. will find out on Friday when they can expect a newly repaired ramp.

The news came just one day after CTV Toronto talked to 71-year-old Ed Sopha about his struggles to enter and exit his home after the ramp was stripped and fenced off.

Sopha said that without the ramp he has to take the stairs -- no easy feat for the lung cancer patient.

“Going down isn’t bad, but coming back I noticed the next morning I was bleeding. Spitting up blood,” he said.

This limited mobility made Sopha feel isolated from the world. He said since the ramp has been closed he’s not been able to visit friends, go out for coffee or even get his mail.

“I can’t do nothing. I’m bored to death. Even if I want to go out for an hour I can’t,” he said.

TCH officials said that when the project to redo the ramp first began, all the concrete was stripped away. But crews soon realized that the metal beams supporting the ramp were in such bad shape that the entire project had to be redesigned.

Now, TCH officials say the new ramp could be completed in two to three weeks.

“Our expectation and our goal is that it will be shorter than that. But that is the estimate we were given this afternoon,” TCH director Chuck Dowdall said.

This latest promise from TCH has left Sopha hopeful albeit skeptical.

“We’ll see tomorrow. Hope they do start and not just for me, but everyone else. A lot of people here have problems,” he said.

He later added: “I feel a lot better now.”

With a report from CTV Toronto’s Colin D’Mello