A stark reality of the social housing crisis in the Kenora District.
Services Board Chief Administrative Officer Henry Wall says there are currently 760 families in the area still waiting for a housing unit, with over 92 new applications in the past three months alone.
That’s an increase of 6% in only the first quarter of the year.
Wall says they need to be adding at least 30-new spaces a month just to meet the growth.
Wall stresses the statistics are very concerning.
He stresses they will continue to press both levels of government “harder and harder” to secure more funding to add more units.
Board Chair Barry Baltessen notes new spaces don’t have to be owned by the KDSB or non-profit organizations.
Baltessen says one option is establishing more rental agreements with private enterprises.
