Toronto Community Housing says it needs to find almost 2-million dollars to pay for security it hired last year to watch its vacant Swansea Mews property, a townhouse complex west of High Park.
Last May, a piece of bedroom ceiling collapsed in one unit, seriously injuring the resident.
To prevent any further accidents, TCH moved the entire Swansea Mews’ community to other locations, with many residents initially forced to leave behind their personal belongings. That required Toronto Community Housing to pay for 24/7 security to guard the vacant buildings.
“At this time, the Swansea Mews community is unoccupied, the residents have been relocated to new communities. The site has been secured from public access using construction hoarding and the buildings still require significant structural shoring to prevent another ceiling collapse,” said Allan Britton, Acting Chief Special Constable and Senior Director in an email interview.
“TCHC’s overarching concern in the response to Swansea Mews has always been public safety and we measure success in that area by our ability to prevent any further injury as a result of the construction fault present in the community,” he said.
TCHC claims that engineering reports have determined that the demolition of these buildings is the only way to completely remove the danger they represent to everyone’s safety.
Britton said before they didn’t have confirmation on the best course of action for the buildings, leading to their budget shortfall.
Due to this, TCHC said the additional funding was required to secure the site from public access while in the process of securing a demolition permit.
Over email, Deneika Thompson, a TCHC tenant said residents had been consulted about their concerns regarding security and feedback.
“There were community meetings. Our Tenant rep had gone to meetings at the head office at 931 Yonge and there is also a website where we could get updated information and an email where we could send in messages or concerns,” she said.
Thompson said while she understood the need to move, it was hard for her to cope with having to leave Swansea Mews.
“My children were born there, their friends are from there, it’s been hard. My family and I also hope that we will get first choice to come back to Swansea once the issues are fixed. “
In 2018, its Board of Directors approved a contract to Allied Universal for up to $43 million dollars for a five-year term.
Last year they approved change orders to Allied Universal for up to $28 million dollars for additional security services.
Should this request of $1.9 million be approved, the total contract amount will be just under $73 million – a 70% cost overrun.
TCHC projects to spend $750,000, combined with $100,000 for unforeseen requests until their expiry of their contract on November 15, 2023.