By Penny Costoglou
Published in June 2004
Cedarview Apartments, located at 35 Cedar Street South in Kitchener, is a low-income, subsidized place to live, that allows individuals to live with dignity and respect. It is successful because it has a good location and it enhances the community around it. This article aims to inform readers about Cedarview. This author is hopeful that Kitchener Housing will have more opportunities to build housing for low-income people.
I spoke with Karen Kwaitoswski, General Manager of Kitchener Housing about the project. According to her, there were some concerns from the neighbourhood before Cedarview was constructed. The Cedarview project started with a committee of city representatives, police, Kitchener Housing and other agencies looking at the properties on Cedar Street. Three corner houses in need of repair were purchased for the Cedarview site.
The financial partners were the Region of Waterloo, K-W Community Foundation, and Kitchener Housing, with additional funding from the Federal-Provincial program. Twenty percent of the tenants are nonsubsidized and eighty percent are subsidized. The project was planned and construction completed in two and a half years. Ms. Kwaitoswski coordinated the planning process including working with the neighbourhood, working with city building officials,the architect, the contractor, and details like the landscape design and planting. Cedarview is the eighteenth project of Kitchener Housing. Ms. Kwaitoswski noted that other projects are not in the offing unless Kitchener Housing receives funds from the federal and provincial governments.
To learn more, I also interviewed the superintendent and residents. The superintendent had previously worked as a manager of the Mayfair Hotel in downtown Kitchener. He said that the best part of his job is working with people, doing the gardening, and keeping Cedarview clean. The main concerns about Cedarview are the buzzer that outside people use at three or four o’clock in the morning and the parking space where illegal activities sometimes take place. The superintendent watches the parking lot in the evening and will record license plates or scatter people who do not belong. He will also tell tenants that, if they permit intoxicated individuals to come in, they could lose their apartment. As the superintendent said, there are “5,000 people waiting for subsidized housing.” He tends to the maintenance and safety of the building and is a pillar of Cedarview apartments.
Cedarview has two lounge rooms, and a patio which will have a barbecue this summer for the tenants to use.
The first Cedarview tenant that I spoke with is a mature man who lived with his family before he moved into Cedarview. The relationship he had with his son soured. He was in need of housing and found Cedarview. His health is failing now and he is under the care of a physician. His low income would have made searching for a private apartment very difficult. Cedarview gave him a place for solace and healing.
The second tenant came to Cedarview from Anselma House (a shelter for abused women). She too has a low income and needed a place to live away from her abuser. She has made some friends at Cedarview, but likes to keep to herself. She too had positive things to say. She did complain, however, about the buzzer and the seedy housing across the street, on Cedar. Overall she feels safe at Cedarview, especially because of the superintendent.
The third tenant I interviewed had been homeless and lived at Mary’s Place. She cannot afford a private apartment and likes her clean and quiet unit. She told me that she wanted to thank Kitchener Housing from the bottom of her heart, for helping poor people like herself find shelter.
It is imperative that individuals who are on disability and on low-income have decent housing. According to the United Nations, housing is a human right. I believe that the government should financially support housing for low-income people. Inflation is growing every year, people work part-time and on contract and apartment rates have skyrocketed. The mentally ill can end up homeless or live in group-homes, and the working poor have to put up with slum landlords. Subsidized housing is a cure for these community problems. Homeless people live dangerous lives on the streets and in shelters and need housing as well. Cedarview is a haven from such social ills. I hope that the government comes through with more funding so that more Cedarviews can spring up in our communities.
Penny Costoglue is a writer who has worked for the Ontario Social Development Council and the Workers Educational Association.
