The County of Wellington has been awarded over $2.2 million through the province’s Green Ontario Fund to assist with energy-saving upgrades in social housing units.
Through the fund, the province is providing $25 million to help with energy efficient retrofits for operators of social housing buildings with less than 100 units.
The program is administered by the Housing Services Corporation (HSC) in support of Ontario’s Climate Change Action Plan.
“We were successful getting funding … for upgrades to our building to make them more efficient,” said social services chair councillor David Anderson at the May 24 county council meeting.
Anderson noted there were 41 submissions from municipalities for the available funding, of which Wellington County received a significant portion.
“We’re getting a lot of money through grants and we only do that through our dedicated staff and for us to get 10 per cent of the allocated funding, that just shows all our staff are great in Wellington County,” Anderson stated.
He also reported the county has qualified for funding through the province’s Social Infrastructure Fund for the third consecutive year.
In 2016 the county was allocated nearly $1 million over three years through the program, contingent on meeting planning and reporting criteria.
“We’ve been meeting the criteria every year,” stated Anderson.
The county qualified for the bulk of the funding though the fund’s Housing Allowance program to address affordability issues of households in modest rental units through a subsidy to a landlord or household in need of rental assistance. Funding of $900,360 was allocated to this program.
Funding of $20,000 was allocated through the Ontario Renovates program to improve the living conditions of households in need by repairing deficiencies in affordable ownership and rental properties.
