City considers stepping in with $785K bail out by declaring Tolpuddle Housing Co-op a ‘Project in Difficulty’

London City Hall is poised to declare the Tolpuddle Housing Co-op a ‘project in difficult,’ marking the first step in funding needed repairs.

London City Hall is poised to declare the troubled Tolpuddle Housing Co-op building a Project in Difficulty (PID), the first step to an intervention that would undertake essential repairs, improve governance, and restore vacant rent-geared-to-income (RGI) apartments.

“Oh, thank God. We really need the help,” tenant Andrea Holden told CTV News.

Living in the building since 2019, Holden is thrilled to hear city staff are proposing a transition plan and six-figure financial contribution to start addressing safety, maintenance, and repairs to vacant units.

“We’ve got a lot of good people living here. A lot of what I call urban warriors. who really love Old East (Village), who have a lot of compassion for what’s happening around us. We’ve got lots of seniors. I’m one of them,” she explained.

In early March, CTV News revealed the shocking conditions inside the building, including threatening graffiti, smashed drywall, damaged fire equipment, and vacant RGI units destroyed by their previous tenants.

At the time, Board President Jo Dee Phoenix blamed the City of London’s housing waitlist for placing tenants who had serious addictions and mental health conditions in a building that was never designed to provide supportive housing.

In a new report to the Community and Protective Services (CAPS) Committee, city staff warn, “Intervention and corrective action are necessary to prevent further deterioration and to stabilize the organization.”

Located at the corner of Adelaide Street and King Street, the non-profit community housing co-op’s apartment building and three townhouse blocks contain 109 rent-geared-to-income units and 23 market rent units.

Currently, 20 units inside the building are vacant and awaiting restoration, resulting an a 15 per cent vacancy rate where a three per cent vacancy rate is considered optimal.

The building faces ongoing issues with drug dealing, trespassers, vandalism, and a number of serious fires.

In early March, Orders were issued for not complying with the Property Standards By-law and Ontario Fire Code.

When a housing provider is at risk of not ensuring that the housing is well managed, City Hall has authority to step-in by declaring it a Project in Difficulty.

The staff report concludes, “there are several operational and governance concerns that increase risk to the long-term sustainability of the housing project, including prolonged vacancies, operational decision making, and property management concerns impacting building operations.”

The report goes on to warn, “At the current pace of spending, the projected deficit (2026) is expected to reach approximately $260,000.”

City staff recommend intervening by overseeing and funding a transitional plan to address ongoing governance, operational, and financial challenges affecting the property.

According to the report, “an upset limit of $785,439 was estimated as the immediate capital needs for the property to address the orders and start on some of the capital items, for example, repairs to the elevators.

The initial funding will come from a municipal program that assists community housing providers with this type of work.

Additional unit repairs will be included into the next Canada-Ontario Community Housing Initiative (COCHI) funding program.

This year’s COCHI funding ($91,632) would be utilized to pay off a $77,071 construction lien and undertake repairs to fire/security monitoring systems.

“Civic Administration will work with the housing provider to improve operational performance, reduce vacancies, and address priority building issues,” the report states.

The CAPS Committee will consider the report on April 13.

If the transition plan is approved by Council on April 28, staff will provide a progress report in Q4 of 2026.

The transition period is anticipated to occur over 12 to 24 months.

The city’s plan includes:

• Re-establish the Project in Difficulty designation to enable additional oversight and support
• Re-introduce external governance support and mentorship for the Board of Directors
• Explore, procure, and implement temporary supportive housing property management
• Implementation of a deficit reduction plan
• Identify changes to the subsidy calculations to support sustainable operations
• Short-term financial support for the municipal compliance and fire orders
• Detailed capital planning, including an updated building condition assessment report that is aligned and optimizes the CPTED plan
• Development of a construction phasing and implementation plan, including the hiring of a project manager
• Development of a unit restoration plan
• Long-term capital and operating support from the Service Manager
• Track progress using a set of benchmarks