The federal government's National Housing Strategy can't come soon enough according to Jim Steele.
The CEO of the Windsor-Essex Community Housing Corporation says the waitlist for social housing continues to grow as does the backlog of needed repairs.
As heard on AM800's The Afternoon News, the Trudeau government's plan would see housing benefits go directly to low-income tenants along with repairs and renovations to some 300,000 units across the country.
Steele says there are just under 5000 units that are owned and managed in Windsor-Essex.
He says the waitlist has doubled in the last couple of years to a total of about 4000 applications.
Steele says operating costs continue to rise and the buildings are old without enough money for proper upkeep.
He says repairs are prioritized, but there's only so much they're able to keep up with under the current funding model.
"We're keeping it in safe shape, but we're just worried that we can squeeze here and there," says Steele "but to get 10, 15 more years out of it, we're going to have to do some major work on it."
Steele welcomes the new strategy and sees it as a recognition of a significant gap in the country's social programming.
Also included in the plan is a promise to make housing a fundamental right.
The $40-billion plan isn't expected to see any money start to flow until 2021.