Hastings County’s Community and Human Services department had a busy year last year and it’s going to be busier this year.
Department Director Deborah Headley outlined some of 2023’s accomplishments, among them providing financial supports to over 3,000 people, and creating 175 new child care spaces.
However, demand for the department’s services continues to grow.
” And although we housed 108 people from our by-name list the number of people that are becoming unhoused in the county is outpacing our ability to house them and although we housed 169 people from our affordable waitlist we have over 3,000 people still waiting.”
Meanwhile there was some anger at a meeting of the Hastings County Community and Human Services Committee meeting Wednesday.
Department staff had originally proposed a 2024 budget showing a 5.95 per cent increase but the committee voted to increase that to 7.61 per cent after learning the county had been turned down by the federal and provincial governments for a $5 million housing grant.
That $5 million was to have been applied to the cost of a $17 million 32-unit affordable housing building in Trenton. The county will now take on the entire cost through long-term debt.
Mayor of Tweed Don DeGenova said both the federal and provincial governments are ignoring smaller communities and ignoring their responsibility for housing.
“We are being hit on all fronts by both parties and enough is enough! We have to stand together and we have to take it to them because the longer we sit here and we find ways of trying to absorb $5 million they (provincial/federal governments) are going to say they’re (municipalities) going to find out how to do it on their own!”
Hastings County has now applied twice to senior government programs for housing support and has been turned down twice. Quinte West and Prince Edward County have both also recently announced being rejected by senior government after applying for money to help pay for housing.
Before the committee finally recommended the 7.61 per cent increase, Belleville councillor Tyler Allsopp wondered why the Quinte West building would be so expensive quoting recent real estate statistics that showed that 32 single-family homes could be purchased in Quinte West for the same money.
County CAO Connor Dorey said the building would be of the highest quality.
“It’s built to last. When we look at our current stock of housing and the type of capital investments that are needed, as it ages to 30 years or even before, the costs to make those investments after the fact exceed what we anticipate by building in the costs up front to build a structure that is structurally sound.”
The building has been discussed for six years and most members of the committee believed it was time to get moving on it one way or another. It will feature the latest in energy-saving technology.
