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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1978-11-02, Page 90* ces t • c GODERICH SIGNAL-S`1'AR, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2•,197.$,,.,PAGE 9 Dramatic housing cost increase explained BY JEFF SED•DO.N Dramatic increases in the past two years in Goderich's share of provincially operated rent geared to income housing here recently prompted town council to ask John Lyndon, manager of County Authority, to increases. the Huron Housing explain the John Benge of Maitland Manor was one resident who was delighted by a visit from the children of the Goderich Municipal Day Nursery on Monday. The children dressed up in Halloween costumes and during the week visited nursing homes and hospitals in the area. Trick or treaters left to right are Shannon Kirk, Jason Cook and Kyra Ay.tesworth. (Photo by Joanne Buchanan) Some members of council were -concerned that the increase in the cost of the housing was due to the fact that some of -the units were vacant. Under terms o_f an agreement with Ontario Housing the town must pay seven percent of any operating loss the housing units have. If the units were losing money because they were empty council wanted Lyndon to explain why any unit was empty when there appeared to be people in town in need of the housing. Town clerk Larry McCabe said the costs in 1978 were up about $5,000 from 1977 and about $10,000 from 1976. He said .he ..hudget. d_.I $.,50.0_for._the. town's share of the housing, basing that figure on the costs in 1977. The ministry of housing billed the town $13,481.41 for its share of the operating deficit. Lyndon said he was prepared to meet with council to explain the increase adding that there is a "'logical ex, planation, it just takes time to gather all the facts". The manager of the Huron housing authority said the biggest reason for the increase was the repairs that had to be made on the housing to bring it up to standards. __ He..said m any,>of thejunits. neattd->grajor-- pat renovations, pointing out that under ministry policy any repairs made to the housing must be paid for in the same year they are made. He ex- plained that the costs cannot be amortized over a number of years so that if $50,000 was spent on repairs in 1978 it must be paid for in 1978. "That's a bill you're stuck with," he said. Lyndon said there was a great deal of confusion over the type of housing in -Goderich. He said there was:;4*such thing as low inc"ome, housing, a misconception many people had, stressing that the housing was rent geared to income. He said the ministry operated on a theory that each unit earns about $200 a month in rent and from that figure determines the operating costs. He ex- plained that if a single mother with two children was living in rent geared to income housing and only had family allowance for income she may be paying $90 a month rent. "That's $110 a month operating loss that the town has to pay seven percent of", said Lyndon. He said there were 17 or 18 variables used to Superintendent resigns /fIPSSB looks for replacement / BY WILMA OKE The resignation of Joseph Mills, Superin- tendent of Education for Huron -Perth County Roman Catholic - Separate School Board was accepted with regret by the board at a meeting in Dublin Monday, night. It will be effective December 31. Mr. Mills has accepted a position as education officer with the Ministry of Education in Toronto. ' He was hired by the board September 1, 1976 as Superintendent of special services and since August, 1977, he has been superintendent of education. At that time he also assumed the duties of superintendent of IN ASHFIELD TOWNSHIP ELECT Finlay MacDonald FOR Reeve on November 13, 1978 Serving you and your township for - § years as Councillor - 4 years as Deputy Reeve program, combing it with the special services workload. The board will hold a special meeting November 1 to discuss advertising for a replacement for Mr. Mills. The board approved a revised policy regarding school secretaries to be adopted January 1: Formerly the policy for remuneration for the secretaries was based on thenumber of rooms in the school. Now it will be based on a combination of the number of rooms and the enrolment figure in the school. This is an attempt to equalize the working hours. The wages for the secretaries will be $4.20 per hour with zero ex- perience, $4.35 with one year's experience and $4.50 per hour with two years or more, all ef- fective as of September 1, 1978. Ronald Marcy, Stratford trustee, was appointed -to the. protection to persons and property committee being formed in Stratford to study a task force report on vandalism by City of Mississauga and Price Sale ALL NEW FALL ARRIVALS ALL STOCK IN THE STORE ALL SANDY'S LOCATIONS Here's how it works. Buy 1 item at regular price, get any other item of the same price or lass for 1/2 the marked price. Limit 1 pair of jeans, cords, or painter pants, per customer SALE START'S THURS. NOV. 2 American EN;p'ress ittrtalit how it would. pertain to Stratford. With municipal election day on November 13, the board's regular meeting date, it was agreed to. hold the next regular meeting on November 20. December 4 has been set as the date of the, inaugural meeting of the board for the 1979-1980 term, with the first regular meeting to be held December 18. Perform a death -defying act. Exercise regularly Give Heart Fund co determine rent of each unit. He said a. mother led family with two children living on $6,000 a year income would be paying $81 a month for housing based on the rent geared to income formula. That same family living on $9,000 a year would pay $139 a month. A family with two parents and two children living on $6,000 a year would pay $100 a month for the same unit and that rent would • be $162 a month if the ` in- come was $9,000 a year. The manager said there are 64 rent geared to income units in Goderich and that only one, a four bedroom unit, was vacant. He said he faced considerable Pr o families in the units available because of rules laid down by the ministry of housing. He said a family with children under five years old, regardless of the sex of the children, is given a one bedroom house, but as soon as the children reach six the family is given a two bedroom unit. He said the rules that force him to match family needs with units prevents hiin from just keeping the units full. He said it was fine to suggest a mother with two children be given a four bedroom unit because that's all that's available but,. poio.ter -out_.that-the.;_. for expected repairs and renovations in the next year and can fairly well predict what the units are going to cost the town. He said all the town has to do is request a copy of his budget when it prepares its own spending forecast and the problem may be solved. He recognized the "concern council would have getting a. bill that much over budget. "If they budget for housing based on the previous year and I get $60,000 worth of im- provements that's one hell of a big kick in the butt", he said. He added that the three major reasons for in- creased costs in the past two -years. are.. incr-eased:.__. general maintenance costs each year, in- creased taxes and costs to modernize and im- prove the units. ---thother' naylse o-rced out if a family comes along that needs the fours, bedrooms and qualifies % for the housing. He said many of the units he administers are 20 years old and needed\ renovations. He said fes` many of the houses needed new . electrical service to bring them from 60 amp service to 100 amp service to operate many, modern appliances. Lyndon said he budgets ELECT LAWRENCE COX GODERICH TOWNSHIP COUNCIL NOVEMBER 13 CAYLEY HILL FOR SCHOOL TRUSTEE Your support will be greatly appreciated ANNE'S BEAUTY CENTRE 524-9632 wishes to remind the. Senior citizens of their days Tuesdays & Wednesdays SHAMPOO & SET- $4.00 HAIRCUT- $2.00 RE-ELECT DEB SH EWFELT MAYOR Positive, Progressive, Experienced ir5 SALE STARTS NOVEMBER 2 AND ENDS NOVEMBER 11 1 /0 OFF Everything in the store that is not listed in this od Open 10 n.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Friday Saturdays and Sundays 12 noon to 5:30 p.m. 4 2 Ali Figurines eh ROYAL DOULTON O , SPANISH JAPANESE OFF quiie HIGHWAY 21 SOUTH. GODIMUCH