Spectrum Newsletter 2010 - City of Brantford

SPECTRUMFROM THEDIRECTOR’S DESKBy Rick FarrelThe one thing that we can always be certain of is change. Nowhere is that more evident thanwithin our own staffing ranks.Rick Farrell, Director of Housing,City of BrantfordAs you know, over the past fewyears, Louise Doyle, Barb Varga,Larry Pick, and Deb Ballak haveall retired and now it is Tom Lockyer’sturn. Tom has been a Managerwith the Brantford HousingDepartment and the Brant andBrantford Housing Authoritysince January 1985. Prior to thatTom managed the ManitoulinEspanola Housing Authorityfrom 1978 until 1984. By the way,Tom was the very first manager ofthat Housing Authority.Tom has always had a real passionfor the housing business, particularlyfor the many tenants whorely on us for their shelter. We wishTom the very best in his retirementand hope that he is at least able tocatch the odd fish or perhaps see afew deer on his hunting trips.Tom’s replacement is DeborahFilice. Deb comes to us from CityHousing Hamilton and has overtwenty years experience in housing.Deborah oversaw approximately7,000 units of housing and brings awealth of experience in developingpartnerships for the betterment ofthe housing community. Deb willbe an excellent addition to ourteam. Welcome Deborah!Other changes include the acquisitionof Heritage House, which isa 27 unit housing project locatedin the former YMCA. The City ofBrantford assisted in building thisproject and now we have taken overownership in partnership withWilfrid Laurier University. Laurierhas a 112 bed student residence inthe same building. This is a greatpartnership and is a key ingredientin the redevelopment of the corearea of the city. Some of the rentsare rent-geared-to-income and othersare at the low end of market.These are stunning apartmentsand if you know persons who areinterested in renting one bedroomsin the $600 range these are greatvalue. Call our office to find outmore!Our department accomplisheda minor miracle by relocating 64households from the south side ofColborne Street in a period of 90days. Frances Richardson and DebBallak worked very hard with eachand every household to find themnew accommodations that suitedtheir needs. Congratulations on ajob well done!We also worked on an updatedAffordable Housing Strategy thatwill guide our decisions and workplanover the next five to ten years.This strategy will bring aboutmore housing, more public educationand hopefully will embracethe notion of making income integrationa part of all of our housingcommunities. A copy of this strategyis posted on the city’s website“www.brantford.ca”.Our department accomplished a minor miracle by relocating64 households from Colborne Street in a period of 90 days.I trust that you enjoy this newedition of the Spectrum and I lookforward to the opportunity to continueto share the news from theHousing Department in our subsequentissues as well.2