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DTSSAB – Rent-Geared-To-Income Housing
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What
is RGI Housing?
The Rent-Geared-To-Income (RGI) Program provides a subsidy to
low income families and individuals to help provide safe and
affordable housing.
The difference between what the market rent on a unit
is, and the rent amount that you can afford to pay (calculated
on your income), is the subsidy amount that is provided.
This subsidy was once the responsibility of the
provincial government, however the responsibility has now been
transferred to the DTSSAB.
There are several providers of the Rent-Geared-to-Income
Program in the District of Timiskaming, click
here for a listing and how to contact them to apply.
What Type of Units are Available?
There is a variety of public and social housing units
available for those in need of affordable housing in the
District of Timiskaming.
The DTSSAB Social Housing Program manages 492 Public Housing
units throughout the District.
All units are Rent-Geared-to-Income and consist of
bachelor units, 1 bedroom units, 3, 4 & 5 bedroom duplexes
and row houses; and two detached houses that are modified (for
wheelchair accessibility). The DTSSAB also provides
administration to 13 federally funded supportive
rent-supplement units in the Tri-Town area.
The Kirkland Lake Non-Profit Housing Corporation manages 85
units in
Kirkland
Lake
. Fourty-five (45)
of these are 2 and 3 bedroom row-housing units located on
Pollock Avenue
, and 40 are 1 and 2 bedroom apartments located at
60 Fifth Street
. These projects
offer both RGI and Market Rent units. Both
projects have units that are modified for wheel-chair
accessibility and the apartment building has elevator service.
The New Liskeard Non-Profit Housing Corporation manages a 54
unit apartment building at
105 Market Street
in New Liskeard. These
units offer both RGI and Market Rent units to those in need of
housing. This
building also provides elevator accessibility, 1 and 2 bedroom
units and contains some units designed for wheel chair use.
The Royal Canadian Legion Zone K-1 Area Veterans Home
Corporation at
259 Gordon Drive
in Haileybury has a 25 unit apartment building which also
consists of 1 and 2 bedroom units for RGI and Market Rent
tenants. This
building provides elevator service as well.
The Cochrane-Temiskaming Native Housing Corporation manages 24
scattered units throughout the municipalities of
Kirkland
Lake
, Chaput Hughes, Haileybury and Cobalt.
These are all semi-detached, two and three bedroom
units. The rent for these units is Geared-to-Income.
Shibelith Homes Inc. consists of eight 1 bedroom row housing
units and eight 1 bedroom apartments located in the
Algonquin Court
complex at 370 Broadway in Haileybury.
How do I Apply for RGI Housing?
Anyone interested in applying for RGI housing may contact any
of the participating Housing Providers directly.
Application forms can be picked up at any of the
Housing Providers’ offices, at certain agencies throughout
the community, or if it is more convenient you may request
that one be mailed to you.
Staff are available to answer any questions, either in
person, by telephone, or mail.
All of the required information on the application must be
provided before it can be processed and placed on the Central
Waiting List.
Click
here, for the
list of Housing Providers and how to contact them to apply.
After You Have Made an Application
Once you have completed and returned the application form to
the Social Housing Program, you will be placed on a Central
Waiting List, based on the date of receipt of your
application. You
will be offered a unit suited to your needs, on a
first-come-first-served basis.
It is your responsibility to advise the Social Housing Program
of any changes, such as:
- phone number
- address
- changes in family size
- changes in your income
- changes in living
situation
Basic
Eligibility Requirements of RGI Housing
- At least one member of
the household must be 16 years old or older and must be
able to live independently.
- Each member of the
household must be a Canadian Citizen, or a landed
immigrant, or a refugee claimant.
- No deportation,
departure or exclusion order has been made against any
member of the household.
- No member of the
household owes money to a Housing Provider, either rent
arrears or as a result of damage that they caused, with a
respect to a housing project under any housing program
administered by a service manager or the Ministry of
Municipal Affairs and Housing (this includes money owed
with respect to a market and/or geared-to-income unit).
- If a member of the
household does owe money for arrears or damage, the
Housing Providers have the flexibility to not require
payment if it is satisfied that there are extenuating
circumstances or if an agreement has been entered into to
repay the former Housing Provider.
There is a special provision for a special priority
household to repay only 50 per cent of the arrears if the
unit had a joint tenancy with the abuser.
- No member of the
household has been convicted of an offence under Section
85 of the Social
Housing Reform Act 2000, or a crime under the Criminal
Code (Canada) regarding the receipt of
rent-geared-to-income assistance, or found by the Ontario
Rental Housing Tribunal or a court of law to have
misrepresented their income for the purpose of obtaining
rent-geared-to-income.
- If
a former member of the household were convicted of such a
crime, they cannot reapply for a period of two years,
unless the Service Manager can determine whether the
household is a special priority household and the member
was forced to make the misrepresentation by the abuser.
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