City Hall will never use computer software it spent $1.3 million to develop

The City of London is still paying for a housing software program that’s never been used with a $1.3M price tag. Daryl Newcombe explains why.

A failed partnership between London City Hall and a handful of other municipalities has been more costly than first thought.

In a report to the Community and Protective Services (CAPS) Committee, Civic Administration admits spending over $1.3 million to develop computer software that staff will never use.

“It’s a good cautionary tale moving forward,” Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis told CTV News. “I’m a little frustrated that there was really nothing that could be salvaged out of it.”

In 2011, Civic Administration decided London would lead an eight-community partnership dubbed the Collaborative Housing Initiative (CHI) to develop a custom-made software package for social housing administrators.

The software was intended to manage community housing waitlists, rent supplements, provide a portal for housing providers and provide reporting tools to simplify annual reporting to the province.

But by 2023, after an eight-year gap in progress reports to Council, city staff admitted numerous problems were encountered during the software’s development by a consultant.

At the time, staff estimated the City’s share of costs to be just over $1 million, but hoped some components of the software could still be utilized.

Next week, however, a report to the CAPS Committee reveals, “London’s all-in cost from project inception through to software development completion is approximately $1.3 million.”

It goes on to admit, “… the City will not implement the software or enter into any further agreements.”

Lewis said, “I’m not surprised when a (computer) program is in development for over a decade, I don’t expect it to be all that feasible.”

With up to eight partners in the CHI, the project’s scope expanded as software features were added at the discretion of participating municipalities, extending the project well beyond its original timeline.

In Nov. 2023, City Council directed staff to close out the municipality’s financial obligations related to the initiative.

But two-and-a-half years later, London remains a member of the CHI group—only notifying partners of its intention last month.

The report explains, “… the City formally notified CHI in Oct. 2025 of its intention to withdraw from the Consortium and end its relationship with AIG (the software developer). As stipulated in the Master Services Agreement (MSA), a six-month written notice is required, with the withdrawal taking effect in April 2026.”

CTV News asked Civic Administration to explain why the total project cost rose $300,000 over the last 30 months and why the City didn’t exit the agreement earlier—but did not receive a response.

Lewis believes other Council directions related to housing took priority.

“I wish it had been a little sooner, but I understand why it’s taking staff this long because in the big picture it wasn’t costing us anything additional,” he explains. “And this wasn’t the highest priority item to report back with us on because Council itself has directed some higher priority asks.”

The CAPS Committee will consider the staff report about exiting the software initiative at its meeting on November 10.

Concerns raised about the CHI Project in 2023:

• The IT Department warned that the software development did not aligned with current technology and project management processes.
• Regulatory changes since software development began meant “even if industry project management best practices were followed this project would have required significant change requests whenever new legislation was changed.”
• Collaborating with a large group of municipalities with different systems and priorities can be extremely challenging when creating a custom software product.