The fire monitor still erroneously beeps in the lobby of the Tolpuddle Housing Co-op more than six months after London city council endorsed a plan for city staff to take a more active role in the troubled housing complex. Board President Jo Dee Phoenix claims support promised by the municipality hasn’t materialized quickly enough to address safety concerns in the building that houses low-income Londoners, seniors, the disabled, and families. “We reached out for help. We’re told we’re going to get the help, but the help never arrives. It’s very, very disappointing. And it is urgent [because] there are people in this community that live in fear,” Phoenix said. On Wednesday, CTV News received no response from city officials to an inquiry about progress on their plan to address the condition, operations, and governance of the building. Troubles exposed in March On March 5, CTV News was granted access inside the 134-unit apartment building and townhouse complex, that includes 109 rent-geared-to-income (RGI) units, near the corner of Adelaide and King streets. At the time, vulnerable tenants found themselves facing a sharp rise in trespassing, drug dealing, and vandalism. Hallways and stairwells were covered in graffiti and holes had been kicked in the drywall. Security systems to control entry into the building had been smashed, and there was a long list of fire code violations. At the time, 15 RGI units had been so severely damaged by their previous tenants that they were uninhabitable without repairs that the co-op couldn’t afford. Phoenix blamed city hall’s decision to place high-needs tenants with active addictions in a building that was never designed to offer adequate supports. In April, council responded by endorsing a plan to declare Tolpuddle a “Project in Difficulty”, allowing the city to take a more active role. Delayed request for progress report But Phoenix suggests the promised follow-through has fallen short, “They were going to give us support. They were going to do audits. They were going to do security audits. They were going to do all kinds of things. They were going to report and appoint a mentor to the board. None of that has happened.” On Sept. 24, Ward 4 Coun. Susan Stevenson submitted a letter to the Community and Protective Services (CAPS) Committee requesting an update about: Instead, council referred Stevenson’s letter to the next meeting of the CAPS Committee. However, the municipal election pushed the next scheduled committee meeting to Nov. 30, and any recommendation from the committee won’t be finalized until the following council meeting on Dec. 15, the last meeting of the year. Next steps for Tolpuddle Phoenix says the board continues to authorize repairs that have overseen the restoration of some severely damaged parts of the building, but she claims the fire code violations have not been fully resolved. She also credits her board for the restoration of some RGI units. But she emphasizes the co-op does not have enough money to maintain the heightened security and repair costs. “[City officials] have provided financial help with some big payments that we have to make for insurance and stuff like that. They have done that,” she explained. “They refuse to give us one cent for operations.” A Request for Proposals (RFP) posted on the city’s Bids and Tenders website seeks a company to act as an Interim Receiver that will temporarily take control of many aspects of the housing co-op for the next 180 days. The receiver would stabilize operations and governance, while developing a transition strategy for after its role concludes. Phoenix asserted, “The housing division is trying to wipe their hands of the responsibility and hand it over to somebody else, because perhaps Tolpuddle is a little bit too advanced for them.”
