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Going, going, gone >> Is the CMHC waiting for Benny Farm's aging veteran tenants to expire? by WAYNE HILTZ
The CMHC originally secured City approval for its Benny Farm redevelopment plan back in 1991. But from 1991 to 1994, veterans, area residents and community groups became increasingly divided over the plans for the post-World War II veterans' housing project. After a lengthy, heated consultation process, the dispute was then apparently settled by a 1994 bylaw: the CMHC could go ahead with 384 replacement housing units for aging veterans, renovate 23 existing buildings and finance it by demolishing the remaining 41 dwellings and selling 900 units to private developers. While the federal housing agency completed 91 barrier-free units for veterans earlier this year, it also recently requested yet another bylaw change--reopening the whole can of worms. The CMHC's new plan calls for the demolition of the 23 buildings slated for renovation, 133 additional private units, and only 191 veterans' units (including the 91 already built). "We're asking for minor modifications compared to the (1994) bylaw and bringing tremendous improvements to the site," says Paul Poliquin, the CMHC's senior project manager. "If knocking down 23 buildings is a minor modification, I'd like to know what a major one would be," replies Jason Hughes, the NDG Community Council coordinator. Hughes and other critics contend that the CMHC is zealously implementing the government's mandate to get out of the landlord business and maximize the potential for privatizing the site, like it has done with other veterans' projects elsewhere. Back in 1991, all 384 veterans' units were full. But as six long years have gone by, the CMHC has let vacancies go unfilled as people either pass away or move out to find other housing because they've been discouraged. "It's like attrition," says Helen Guy, the Benny Farm tenants' association president. In 1991, she explains, the CMHC "slammed the door" on 250 veterans on a waiting list, even though they could have rented to them without the subsidy. A total of 192 veterans now remain in the old project, she says, while all 91 new units have been filled. But as Guy points out, "the new plan is only for 100 additional [veteran] tenants. That means 92 are left in limbo." By the time the plans have gone through the "same rigamarole with all the consultations" and then the construction, she fears that the rest will have moved away or died in two or three years. The veterans demanded 50 or 60 more units to accommodate everyone. But the CMHC's Poliquin says that it's not possible right away. "Once the [new] bylaw is adopted, we'll be in a position to make a decision because then we can forecast our needs. We're talking about major investments here," he says. But Hughes believes the CMHC has a more cynical motivation about all the delays. "They're waiting on their actuarial tables," Hughes says. "The longer they wait, the less people they have to subsidize." Poliquin hopes that the new bylaw will be adopted by the end of November. But critics don't really trust the CMHC, and want to see public consultation on the bylaw changes. "What guarantee do we have," says Hughes, "that they won't come back again to ask for more changes? Will this just go on forever?"
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For the second time in six years, the government-owned Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) wants to modify its plans for the future development of the Benny Farm housing complex in central NDG. But some critics contend that the bylaw change may be nothing more than a stalling tactic, while the CMHC waits for a number of its aging tenants to, er, "disappear."