Housing to be restructured, major commitment made for repairs and maintenance

02/26/2019

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke (MCK) wishes to inform the community that Chief & Council have unanimously supported recommendations brought forth at yesterday’s duly-convened Council Meeting to restructure the MCK Housing department and approved the development of a comprehensive plan to implement essential repairs to social housing facilities.

The Department will be developed into a stand-alone Unit, with its own Director and additional staff. Along with a Director, the new structure will have two General Managers to oversee the operations of Programs & Client Services, and Housing Properties & Facilities. Other staff will be brought on board, including a Social Housing caseworker, Administrative Assistant, and an additional Maintenance person. 

A direct link will be implemented to the MCK Finance unit to ensure financial accountability.

Approval was also given to allocate $1 million for repairs on all MCK-owned Social Housing facilities to bring them up to code.

“It was clearly determined that the current structure did not support the community’s needs or expectations,” said Ratsénhaienhs Carl Horn, who is the lead portfolio Chief on Housing. “The evaluation that has taken place over the past several months has identified gaps that needed to be filled. Some of those are urgent – that’s why a significant amount of funding was set aside for repairs.”

The proposed changes, which were presented by Interim Housing Manager Davis Montour, were unanimously supported by Chief & Council. In the meantime, the Housing department will continue to operate with temporary positions and current staff taking on extra duties to maintain operations. Now that it is approved, the restructuring process is expected to begin almost immediately.

“The MCK appreciates the time, effort and dedication put forth by the team to put Housing on a path to improved efficiency and service delivery,” concluded Ratsénhaienhs Horn.