Housing Study presented at Special Community Meeting

06/23/2023

The Housing Unit of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke wishes to inform Kahnawa’kehró:non that the full 2023 Housing Study was presented to the community at last evening’s Special Community Meeting on Housing held at the Knights of Columbus Hall.

The Special Community Meeting, which saw approximately fifty (50) community members, and facilitated by Portfolio holder Ratsénhaienhs Ryan Montour, was an added activity towards improved reporting and transparency in all Housing matters. While information and updates are provided to the community, they are also meant to collect feedback and concerns from the community.

The Housing Study highlighted several key elements, starting with the need to expand the mandate of the Housing Unit to address Kahnawà:ke’s Housing requirements, providing the community with a single central point of contact. “The critical elements to be addressed are the current backlog of over 100 homes, the growing need for housing of many types, improvements, and extensions to the lending programs, and the addition of new programs focused on community members requiring social services,” said Executive Operations Officer Alan John Rice.

Although not fully presented due to time constraints, the Housing Unit Restructuring Strategy is focused on the design of an enhanced Housing Unit, including the structure, roles, policies and procedures, technology requirements, and the transition strategy from the current environment to the new model. “Community member communication and support was the central focus,” said Director of Housing Areti Malliarou. “The Housing Study and the Housing Unit Restructuring Strategy recommendations reflect the key elements from the overall MCK Strategic plan to ensure sustained alignment and consistency.”

The Financial Reconciliation team, led by the Finance department, has completed a consistent and comprehensive review of every one of the 291 active files and has created detailed, individual summaries for the planned in-person discussions with each participating community member. These conversations will cover the full history, the current state, and the specific next steps for each file. In addition, the team has provided further suggested enhancements to controls, policy, and processes, aligned fully with the updated Housing Unit policies and procedures.

The report can be viewed by clicking here.