KSCS drops A'nowaráhne rent after elder complains
KSCS drops A'nowaráhne rent after elder complains
KSCS drops A'nowaráhne rent
Richard Tardif
The Eastern Door
Those hoping to rent one of four remaining A'nowaráhne two-bedroom apartments may be able to recalculate their living expenses and apply, after the Kahnawake Shakotiia'takehnhas Community Services (KSCS) announced it would be lowering the monthly rental fee.
The initial rate of $650 a month will be reduced to $550 a month for the 2012 year.
“Elders in the community came to me with their concerns about the high cost in rent and asked for help, so I did my best to try and help them,” said Mohawk Council of Kahnawake chief Carl Horn.
“The decrease in rent is a positive thing and I hope the Council table would go further and reconsider their decision on cutting out the Hydro subsidy to help more community members and their families.”
Located behind the Elders’ Lodge, the six-apartment complex, otherwise known as the six-plex, was built in 2011 by the MCK’s Housing Department for elders and community members with disabilities. The apartments are maintained by KSCS.
KSCS is not subsidized housing therefore the organization receives no funding to oversee the facility.
The original rental fees were influenced by the monies KSCS had to invest in the project and the ongoing costs for daily maintenance and future preservation, according to a KSCS press release.
KSCS will be conducting annual operational reviews to help determine the rental fees for upcoming years.
“My job is to make life a little easier for community members, especially our elders, and I am hoping this decrease in cost makes a difference for an elder in our community,” said Horn.
Each unit has a separate front entry, a spacious living room, kitchen, a bathroom, two bedrooms, and a back door.
Application forms are available at the Home and Community Care Services office located at the Turtle Bay Elders’ Lodge, or at the KSCS main office located in the Services Complex building, second floor.
“We have to look at the fact that it was reduced by a hundred dollars and it is a start,” said Patricia Stacey, who was eligible to move into the apartments but felt the rent was too high.
“I would have liked to have seen it reduced,” she said, to an amount of $500.
Stacey is on social assistance and while she appreciates the reduction and the efforts people made on her behalf, it remains that she has very little disposable income after paying her bills.
She still has questions. She would like to have the electricity paid for. “I am concerned for not only me but other elders in the community,” she said. Stacey is still eligible and is still hoping to move to her own apartment.
“We are hoping that the reduction will not end up in a shortfall,” said Mike Horne, manager of Home and Community Care Services. “In making this decision we have to look in the long-term.”
That long-term would entail replacement of windows, steps, roofing and other regular maintenance needs as the complex ages.
“We have to be responsible to maintain the living conditions in the apartments. We may have to utilize our existing services, maybe some of our human resources funded through other departments,” he said.
While the building was built without cost to KSCS, the organization paid all of the cost for the roadway, landscaping and sodding as well as the surrounding concrete wall.
