Building with what we have

Building with what we have

               In any home that struggles with finances, there is that person who can do a lot with a little. They make the meals stretch, they fix the car with minimal parts, they jump on the roof and fix the leak themselves, etc. These people are indispensable and embody sayings like “necessity is the mother of all invention!”. When we think about government, however, we often allow the “bigness” of the entity to overrule this basic instinct. We professionalize everything and we get locked into ways of doing things. The only way forward for Saint John on several fronts including housing is to learn to do a better job building with what we have.

               In Ward 3 (Lower east side, lower west side, central peninsula) most of the housing is pre-1950 in construction date. This means that almost no one is going to be able to own a home without having to do a few repairs along the way. Couple this with 20 years after SJ lost its shipbuilding industry that led to major losses for residents financially and we have the problem we are seeing right now with 150+ buildings on our dangerous and vacant watchlist. This list requires consistent inspections from our city staff and firefighters to ensure they are safe(ish) for the homes around them. This costs us money, time, and it ultimately scares away investment.

               Like I said in the opening paragraph, however, necessity is the mother of all invention. Enter a novel idea; barn raising. Barn raising is a practice unique to North America in our pioneer days. When a family came into the land and needed a barn raised, the surrounding community came to help without expectation of payment. They understood the progress of one family meant the resilience of their community. We put this idea to the test here in SJ with the Saint John Tool Library’s “Community Build” initiative and it worked beautifully. We helped a homeowner in need in the north end in 2018 and then in 2019 we had 40 volunteers and 4 construction companies volunteer to help us renovate 96 Victoria st. The plan was to renovate this into a 3-unit x 3-bedroom home for those waiting for affordable housing. Had the building not caught fire in early 2020, we would have succeeded.

               So, what happened? What went wrong? The short answer is money. We were a simple cohort of 2 non-profit organizations and a local charity teaming up to tackle this and banks do not tend to lend to these types of entities. What we did not know, and what the city did not tell us (because they presumably did not know either) is that the local governance act allows for the repair costs of buildings to be uploaded to the province for reimbursement. Read below from the Local Governance Act section 137:

137( 1) If an owner or occupier does not comply with a final and binding notice given under section 132 within the time set out in the notice, the local government may, rather than commencing proceedings in respect of the violation or in addition to doing so,

(a)  cause the premises of that owner or occupier to be cleaned up or repaired if the notice arises out of a condition contrary to subsection 131(1),

(b)  cause the building or other structure of that owner or occupier to be repaired or demolished if the notice arises out of a condition contrary to subsection 131(2), or

(c)  cause the building or other structure of that owner or occupier to be demolished if the notice arises out of a condition contrary to subsection 131(3).

               This is what we have in SJ. This is the only jurisdictional power we have when it comes to housing that has been abandoned by negligent landlords. What we have fallen into as a habit in the last 10 years is jumping right to demolition instead of repairing what we have. Like anything, city staff are prone to fall into habits. Demolition is the path of least resistance as it allows the lot to be listed new without liens, taxes owed, etc. That does not mean Demolition is the best option for SJ.

               As I have discussed in the previous blogs, with new construction costs skyrocketing it is IMPOSSIBLE to build affordable housing if we build new. We need to find a way to repair and renovate what we have. To start this process, we need to bring the average length of time a building sits before action is taken on it by the city down to 1-3 years instead of 7-9. By 7 years of no power and no one in it, a building is nearly unsalvageable. If we can act sooner, we can save more buildings and get them back on the market.

               To start this, we need to change the definition of a “dangerous” building. Currently, a building is listed as dangerous if a resident has complained about something, the city inspectors have investigated and confirmed the problem, and the city staff report it as such. This can take years to happen, and then the law dictates that a set timeline of notices be followed before action can be taken on the property which gets us to that 7–9-year average I mentioned.

Enter the first part of the solution: change the definition of what a “dangerous” building is. As many would know, you cannot get insurance for a building that does not have electricity to it. The insurance company would consider this lack of basic service too dangerous to provide insurance. If we can bring our cities definition of “dangerous” into alignment with the insurance act, we can begin to act on buildings MUCH sooner. As soon as SJ Energy eliminates power to a building, a notice could be sent to the city inspectors office for a follow up to be scheduled. This could mean that a city inspector is on the premises to investigate within 3 months instead of five years.

From here, we can apply the second part of the solution: repair. If we had a basic walkthrough that outlines the scope of work needed doing on every building, we could then issue tenders for repair work to local construction companies. These costs, as we have outlined previously, can be reimbursed by the province. Not only does this keep the building safe, but it also keeps it looking reasonable to the community and makes it more attractive for a buyer. This two-pronged solution has the power to make major changes in SJ and will ensure we NEVER return to the state we are in currently.

This is what doing more with less looks like and it is the type of thinking that I bring to the table as a candidate for Councillor at Large. With your help, we can put these ideas to work and make them a reality.