Speaking up kept a roof over his head

Ascot Gardens renter Gary Lazowski fought for a new apartment

- WCR photo by Ramon Gonzalez A 27-year resident of Ascot Gardens, Gary Lazowski, with the help of the Greater Edmonton Alliance, is hopeful he will get an apartment in a planned new complex.

By RAMON GONZALEZ
WCR Staff Writer
Edmonton

When Ascot Gardens resident Gary Lazowski learned the affordable housing complex where he has lived for 27 years would be levelled to build more expensive housing, he was upset.

Skyrocketing housing prices and the lack of affordable housing in Edmonton meant Lazowski, 58, would have no place to go.

Now thanks to the Greater Edmonton Alliance (GEA), an alliance of city churches,

religious congre-gations, social agencies and labour unions, Lazowski is hopeful he and others will have a place in the new development.

Broker a deal

GEA helped broker an agreement in which a percentage of the new units will be dedicated to affordable housing, which means tenants will pay according to their income.

GEA leader Christopher New calls the deal "a model for how affordable housing can work" and thinks residents of other low-income neighbourhoods should take notice.

"I'm glad GEA did this because otherwise we would have no place to go," Lazowski said.

"There are lots of us around here that are worried about getting affordable rent in these new buildings. We can't afford to buy them."

Located in Athlone area in northwest Edmonton, Ascot Gardens is a low-income housing complex built in the 1950s. Rents are about $610 for a three-bedroom apartment, but monthly utility costs can go up to $400 sometimes because the units are old and rundown.

Lazowski, a maintenance man, raised five children and three of his 15 grandchildren in his three-bedroom unit and says for him that's home.

He's never wanted to move and for the past couple of years he has been trying, along with a few others, to keep the developer from demolishing their homes.

Residents organized

When residents heard a few years ago that the owner of Ascot Gardens was considering redeveloping the housing complex, they organized to face the challenge. They wanted to meet the developer to know if they could afford the new units or if there was a chance he would change his mind.

They would have preferred that the units be renovated but as Lazowski put it, "everyone wants to build new because everyone wants to make money."

Lambridge Capital Partners, the developer, is proposing to replace the 235 units at Ascot Gardens with more than 700 condo and apartment suites.

Lazowski believes none of the current residents could afford to buy any of the units. If the city approves zoning plans in November, construction may start in March.

Lazowski says he is worried about the future because there is no affordable housing available in the city and none is being built.

"When my grandkids get old enough to go to work, they are not going to be able to pay $3,000 a month because somebody wants to get rich on us," he said.

GEA learned about Ascot Gardens through one of its member organizations - St. Edmund's Parish, which had been working with the residents.

Christopher New

The coalition got involved and in May it set up a meeting between residents, the developer and Capital Region Housing Corp., Alberta's largest affordable housing provider.

The developer agreed to save five per cent of the new units for affordable housing in keeping with a City of Edmonton recommendation.

Under the agreement, Capital Region Housing, a non-profit corporation that develops and purchases housing units to provide affordable housing, will buy about 40 of the units, and then rent them back to residents at affordable prices, about 30 per cent of a resident's income.

Now it is up to the city to approve the deal. "We have the deal prepared to go ahead pending zoning approval, which we are working on ensuring," said Michael Walters, GEA's only paid activist.

"What we see happening is a model that can be used in this city," New said.

"As far as we can tell from the deal that has been made, this is a model that can work and can be replicated in a lot of different places around the city."

The developer is interested in working with the GEA and the Capital Region Housing Authority, according to Walters.

"The developer himself has committed to us that there will be affordable units in there.

"He's committed to us that all current residents will have first priority in renting the new places."

City must promise

But, as Walters pointed out, developers aren't interested in being landlords. "They build the project, sell and move on.

"The city then must be committed not only to buying the units, but to keeping them as affordable housing."

Lasowski is happy with the deal. "I never thought we would get this far," he said.

"If anything, we did something for affordable housing in this city."

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