THUNDER BAY – There are mixed feelings from the residents living in Thunder Bay District Social Service Administration Board (TBDSSAB) housing.
Chief executive officer Ken Ranta told Newswatch on Thursday this survey helps the TBDSSAB formally engage with residents’ expectations and gather feedback on their success and what needs improvement.
“It's an important way for us to engage formally with tenants to get their feedback on issues that we feel are important, but we also know how they feel are important based on the responses and the percentage of responses that we do receive,” said Ranta
TBDSSAB mailed 2,217 surveys to tenants in July 2024 and collected 444 responses, resulting in a similar response to its 2022 survey.
TBDSSAB’s 2024 Tenant Satisfaction Survey shows a significant decrease in negative responses from residents on snow removal in the winter and general work done in the summer compared to the 2022 survey.
The highest rate of positive responses comes from those living in apartment buildings. Forty-five per cent are happy with the timely snow removal while 65.8 per cent of those in townhouses and 62 per cent in apartment buildings chose ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ on the TBDSSAB’s response to maintenance in the summer.
However, the TBDSSAB also learned there are some key areas for improvement. The perception of cleanliness inside their buildings increased in negative responses by 6.4 per cent from 2022, and 56.3 per cent of negative responses were from those living in apartment buildings.
People worrying about garbage disposal rose 8.2 per cent from 2022 with the highest negative response from people living in townhouses.
“It's interesting because we always have a bird's eye view of what our properties physically need. We do building condition assessments. We have regular maintenance and updates on our equipment and materials. We have life cycle, lifespan replacement systems,” Ranta said.
“We know what on paper needs to happen in order to maintain the properties in a consistent and acceptable manner. What we get from our tenants is the lived experience.”
Another positive response received was an increase in satisfaction with TBDSSAB staff and a four per cent increase in satisfaction with the number of activities available for residents in both apartments and townhouses.
“What that means is there is a level of engagement and rapport with the tenants that helps drive some of the programming and opportunities that we would provide to them,” Ranta said.
The report noted that there was a 10.3 per cent increase from 2022 of respondents who did not feel safe in their building and a 9.1 per cent increase in people who did not feel safe in their neighbourhood.
Some contributing factors respondents pointed out were drug and alcohol activity, crime and violence, and concern about non-tenants being let in and inhabiting common areas.
“We recognize that across the community, across all communities, there are impacts and concerns that will impact people's view of their safety and security. We saw a decline in the satisfaction or the level of safety and security that people feel in their units. That is something we do take seriously and have looked to address over the last number of years,” Ranta said.
He stated that the TBDSSAB would like to see everybody feel 100 per cent safe and secure, but he recognized that some issues are beyond the ability of the board to handle on their own.
“We do recognize that the safety of our tenants is one of the key important aspects that we have in delivering our housing. We want to get that feedback and ensure that the measures that we're able to implement have a positive impact on that,” said Ranta.
"We have to engage experts and community involvement with that because we don't have all the answers internally, but that's where we would rely on those community partners' experts, not only in security but in services. The community partners that we have to come in and provide food safety and security programs, life skills, mental health support, addiction support, all of the well-rounded services that our community offers as we bring them into our properties and help to support that feeling and sense of community.”
