A new program looking to boost the affordable housing stock locally.
Habitat for Humanity Windsor-Essex announced the launch of the Repair Revolution on Tuesday afternoon, a new trillium funded home repair program aimed at supporting residents to maintain safe, decent, and affordable housing.
Habitat has prioritized working with Windsor Essex Community Housing in their goals to restore the affordable housing stock throughout the city.
Thanks to the generous support of $272,400 in trillium funding from the province, Habitat has been able to secure a dedicated vehicle and essential tools, enabling them to take their repair operations on the road.
They're also looking to hire a Repair Program Facilitator, a skilled professional who will not only restore homes but also train volunteers, students, and residents in home maintenance and repair.
To commemorate the milestone, Habitat hosted a celebratory event at 982 South Street in Windsor with provincial Associate Minister of Housing, Nina Tangri, Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Andrew Dowie, and Ward 2 councillor Fabio Costante on hand alongside Habitat for Humanity staff, officials and volunteers.
Executive Director Fiona Coughlin says they were selected as one of six affiliates across Canada to pilot the program.
She says they believe everyone deserves safe, decent and affordable housing.
"There's a lot of stock in our community that we can repair, and we believe that by putting some emphasis on the repair side of things, we can get more houses filled faster," Coughlin continued. "We're not stopping our builds, we're just going back and looking at what stock's available in the city that hasn't been repaired and how can we get it."
Coughlin says they have current staff and volunteers working on the project.
"Our construction manager Tony, Reece is our trainee in the repair program, and then Rick Young who has been running our ReStore forever has been leading the way. But we actually with some of this funding have the opportunity to hire a Repair Program Facilitator."
She says they put a posting for that position up on Tuesday.
Coughlin says they have a foundation of really strongly skilled volunteers and staff, but this is taking them into a new direction by doing home maintenance and repairs.
"We'll be able to address some needs really quickly and turn houses around into safe, decent, affordable housing faster which is a wonderful thing by partnering with community housing partners. There's a whole spectrum of need in our community as far as housing goes," she stated.
Coughlin says they're currently working on four units, and during the next year, they have plans to take the new vehicle throughout the Sandwich Town area to do more repairs on affordable housing units.