Ward 5 incumbent Robert Kirwan says the new Greater Sudbury city council would be stepping into a "hornet's nest" in the new year with respect to community housing if the recommended changes are made.
On Sept. 25, during the final meeting of city council prior to the municipal election, the General Manager of Community Development will be recommending that the Greater Sudbury Housing Corporation undergo a major transition that will end up with the city assuming full responsibility for the administration of the 1,848 social housing units owned by the GSHC.
The GSHC would continue to retain ownership of the assets with the entirety of city council being appointed as the board of directors.
Kirwan said he recommendation being made by the GM of Community Development comes after a period of increasing adversarial and confrontational interactions between the Board of Directors of the GSHC and the Manager of Housing Services.
Many of these conflicts have been publicly documented including issues with the Louis Street Neighbourhood Association, a dispute over the clawing back of reserve funds, a disagreement over the relocation of the GSHC office space, the refusal to allow the GSHC to renovate three bedroom units to three bedroom units to address the waiting list, and the inability to resolve inconsistencies over the specific roles of the Manager of Housing Services and the GSHC Board of Directors as per the Shareholder Declaration and Operating Framework.
Below is the full text of Kirwan's media release:
On September 25, 2018, during the final meeting of City Council prior to the municipal election, the General Manager of Community Development will be recommending that the Greater Sudbury Housing Corporation undergo a major transition that will end up with the city assuming full responsibility for the administration of the 1,848 social housing units owned by the GSHC.
The GSHC would continue to retain ownership of the assets with the entirety of City Council being appointed as the Board of Directors.
Under this new governance structure, the GSHC CEO would report to the General Manager of Community Development, who is expected to designate the Manager of Housing Services to oversee the day to day operations of the GSHC.
This is a critical change that is sure to have significant implications for City Councillors as well as the tenants of the GSHC.
Just to review, the City of Greater Sudbury City Council has been designated as a Service Manager under the Housing Services Act, 2011. But rather than take sole responsibility for this role, City Council and has delegated the rights, duties and responsibilities of Service Manager to the General Manager of Community Development and/or the Manager of Housing Services.
The recommendation being made by the GM of Community Development comes after a period of increasing adversarial and confrontational interactions between the Board of Directors of the GSHC and the Manager of Housing Services.
Many of these conflicts have been publicly documented including issues with the Louis Street Neighbourhood Association, a dispute over the clawing back of reserve funds, a disagreement over the relocation of the GSHC office space, the refusal to allow the GSHC to renovate 3 bedroom units to 2 bedroom units to address the waiting list, and the inability to resolve inconsistencies over the specific roles of the Manager of Housing Services and the GSHC Board of Directors as per the Shareholder Declaration and Operating Framework.
I have served as Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for the Greater Sudbury Housing Corporation for the past four years and I will support the decision to have the City take over the Greater Sudbury Housing Corporation.
I found that as a board member it was getting very difficult for me to feel as if I was fulfilling my fiduciary duties to the corporation since many of the decisions and initiatives that the GSHC Board of Directors felt would be in the best interests of the corporation were being refused by the Manager of Housing Services, acting in the delegated role of Service Manager.
My own feeling is that if the City wants to run the corporation, then the city should take over the corporation and disband the current Board of Directors. That is what is about to happen if approved by Council.
However, in my opinion, if this transition takes place as recommended, the new City Council will be stepping into the middle of a hornet’s nest on January 1, 2019 and they will definitely have to address the delegation of authority issue.
While all of this is going on, we must remember that the Co-operative and Non-Profit housing providers have submitted a petition asking for a review of the policies and rules governing their operations.
Among other things, they are asking that the GM of Community Development and/or the Manager of Housing Services no longer be granted the delegation of authority to make changes to local rules or policies which govern service providers. They want all changes to be made by City Council as the Service Manager under the Housing Services Act. So the problems between the city and housing providers is not limited to the relationship with the GSHC.
In my role as vice-chair of the Board of Directors for the GSHC, I found that current governance structure allowed City Council to appoint non-council members of the Board based on desired skill-based qualifications.
My fellow board members have backgrounds that provide a level of knowledge and expertise that served us well in providing direction to the CEO that we felt was in the best interests of our staff and tenants. I my opinion the Board of Directors and the staff of the GSHC under the leadership of CEO, Mark Scarfone, have done an excellent job during the past four years.
I also found that until recently the current organizational structure provided less opportunity for political influence by City Council, thus allowing the GSHC to operate in more or less an independent manner subject to the operating framework. However, there has been significant pressure lately for the GSHC to become more consistent with some of the other initiatives that the City is trying to implement. This political influence is having an impact on the direction that the GSHC Board of Directors wishes to take.
All of this leads me to the conclusion that the recommendation to have the City Council become the Board of Directors will not work unless the delegation of authority to the GM of Community Development and the Manager of Housing Services is rescinded.
The Manager of Housing Services can retain oversight responsibility for the close to 4800 social housing units in the city, but all reports and recommendations for policy changes and local rules should come to City Council once a month for debate and decision.
City Council will be taking over assets that have a $35 million infrastructure deficit, so unless Council is in direct control of decisions regarding the operations and the budgeting of the corporation, individual Councillors may be placing themselves in a position whereby they are legally responsible for the assets as directors, but they do not have control over the administration and maintenance of those assets.
The current members of the GSHC Board of Directors were well aware of our responsibilities as Directors, which is why it was getting so difficult to feel comfortable about meeting those obligations without being more in control of the day to day operations.
This also means that each City Councillor is going to require extensive training to become familiar with all of the legislation and social housing policies in order to be able to demonstrate the necessary skills and competence that were otherwise covered through the appointment of non-council skill-based board members.
Finally, it is going to be very difficult to remove political influence from decision making under the new governance structure.
This may end up putting the city at risk of future legal action from tenants and persons on the waiting list. And this won’t just involve the GSHC. It will involve the 46 other housing providers who are part of the Social Housing Section of the city.
This is a huge challenge for City Council moving forward and if the recommendation is approved on September 25, this new governance takes effect on January 1, 2019. The new council has a month to be trained for its new role.
