Housing survey aims to paint picture of low-income living in London
It also allows people to submit photos of derelict, abandoned homes
An organization that aims to empower low income families is conducting a housing survey and creating a map of vacant, derelict homes in London to send a message to city hall.
"We're trying to create a picture of what the conditions are that low income families are living in," said Jacqueline Thompson, the executive director of LifeSpin, which runs programming the city for low-income families.
"Are the homes in need of repairs, do they have working carbon monoxide detectors and smoke detectors where they're supposed to, are they living with bugs and other critters that they shouldn't be?"
The survey is broken up into two parts. One, for those living in low-income housing. The other, for anyone to submit the address and photos of an abandoned property.
"What we want the city to do is to deal with those," said Thompson, noting that there are already 20 submissions. Abandoned homes are required to be boarded up in a certain way under municipal bylaws, she said, but many of them aren't.
Boarded up properly or not, Thompson said vacant homes drive down the property values in the neighbourhood, impair the health of people living there, raise the risk of fires and make the area less appealing for someone that wants to buy a house.
When it comes to derelict housing – homes that are in violation of property standards – Thompson said the city has capacity in the bylaws to do repairs themselves and add it to the owner's tax bill.
The homes might belong to a slumlord or to someone who inherited the property and can't afford to fix it, she said.
"If they don't pay for repairs on taxes, then the city could move more aggressively to acquire them using whatever financial resources, legal or negotiating tools available … and then we have affordable housing that's safe for people in the community."
What the city currently calls affordable housing, said Thompson, is not really affordable.
"It's really just below market rent, and most of the units are one bedroom. So for single people or couples that are in the workforce who can afford market rents. But we're not building anything for low-income families."
Thompson said this is the third time that LifeSpin has put out a housing survey with the intent of submitting it to city hall.
"The key would be for them to act on it," the advocate said.