Progress made addressing ‘poor condition’ of LMCH public housing

CTV London’s Daryl Newcombe tours the new London Middlesex Community Housing on Kent Street.

A year after city council was alerted to a report that assessed the London and Middlesex Community Housing (LMCH) portfolio of buildings to be in ‘poor’ condition, the public housing provider is touting significant progress.

During a tour of an LMCH high-rise on Kent Street, CEO Paul Chisholm told CTV News, “Having the ability to spend $29 million to catch up on capital infrastructure, to invest in site improvements is moving the assets forward.”

In May, a report to City Council assessed the overall condition of 31 LMCH properties as “poor.”

Only seven buildings were deemed to be in “fair” condition, with the remainder evaluated to be in “poor” or “very poor” condition.

At the time, Chisholm acknowledged the need for revitalization but also emphasized that the assessments were not up to date.

“Fast forward to this year and we are up to date with our data about what work has been done on the buildings,” he explained. “And we’re completing new building condition assessments to figure out the capital need of each building.”

Facility Condition Index (FCI) is a metric used by facility managers that compares the cost of outstanding repairs to a building’s replacement value.

A recent report to the LMCH Board cites progress lower the FCI of two buildings that were part of a pilot project.

Repairs and upgrades to the seniors building at 170 Kent St. in London slashed its FCI from 17.4 per cent to 4.3 per cent.

The reduction moved its condition assessment from ‘poor’ to ‘good’.

Work at 2061 Dorchester Rd. in Thames Centre dropped its FCI from 32.8 per cent to 7.6 per cent, moving it from the ‘very poor’ category to the ‘fair’ category.

The report suggests “… a reasonable expectation that LMCH’s next Asset Management Plan update will show a significant positive increase in building condition ratings across LMCH’s portfolio.”

Chisholm’s tour included showing upgrades to the elevators, the roof, and even the installation of exterior cladding that uses sunlight to help warm the building in the winter.

He pointed to the importance of balancing capital funds between a building mechanical components and individual apartments.

“The [apartment] can be all pristine, but if there’s no electricity or no water going to it, or the elevator isn’t working or the roof is leaking, that is not serving the needs of the building,” Chisholm explained.

Each unit is evaluated when a tenant moves out, sometimes it simply requires cleaning, other times significant repairs and updates to meet modern accessibility standards.

An updated condition assessment of the entire LMCH portfolio will be completed by the end of this year so the agency can accurately determine its long-term capital funding needs.

“All our housing should be in a good state of repair. That is the objective. And our funding request will mirror that,” Chisholm adds.

The Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee will receive a presentation from Chisholm and consider the 2025 LMCH Annual Report on June 16.