New Peel Region affordable housing complex too ugly for some politicians

The 'ugly factor' of Creditvale Mills should be addressed at the beginning of the project and not at the end says The Star's architecture critic Chris Hume.

Wiping snow from the hood of his car, George Avanesian pauses to glance up at the towering brick façade of the Creditview Mills housing project in Mississauga.

“It’s good,” the nearby resident shrugs. “Maybe they should build more.”

Now on the cusp of completion, the two red-brick towers of Peel Region’s newest subsidized housing complex were singled out this week by local councillor Ron Starr and Mississauga’s nonagenarian mayor, Hazel McCallion.
Unlike Avanesian, Starr and McCallion think it’s in need of a spruce-up.

Starr raised the issue at Peel Region council Tuesday, when he compared the buildings to “an industrial prison,” the Mississauga News reported.
Since construction costs fell short of the $53 million budget, Starr suggested they address his esthetic judgment and spend $200,000 to install faux balconies of aluminum on the buildings’ exteriors.
Brampton Councillor Paul Pelleschi approves. In fact, the faux balconies were his idea, and despite calls for further study of the matter, he said it’s a done deal. No council vote is necessary, because no budgetary amendment is needed to spend the cash, he said.

“I talked to (Peel Region) management about it. We met several times about it and they agreed with my scenario,” he said. “It’s going forward, absolutely.”

The 250-unit project consists of two towers with neat rows of windows. They stand perpendicular to each other, joined by a squat atrium with a “green” roof for future grass. The complex sits at the southeast corner of Eglinton Ave. and Creditview Rd., bordered by a playground and rows of townhouses next to a park. Across the street there’s a hot tub dealer and a gas station.

As president of the Peel Housing Corporation’s board of directors last
fall, Pelleschi said he was approached about it by McCallion, who drives by the new complex on a daily basis.
“She basically said it looked like a giant factory,” Pelleschi said. “I truly believe in adding this additional feature to it. I think it’s really going to make it a hell of a lot more attractive.”

Elaine Moore, another Peel Region councillor from Brampton, has called for examining future costs associated with window cleaning and maintenance before approving the faux balcony add-ons. Besides, she said, the buildings are fine as they are.
“I personally think it is quite an attractive-looking building,” she said. “I don’t know why we would spend $200,000 to put faux balconies on them.”

She said it makes more sense to put the unspent budget towards another project, especially in light of the marked shortage of public housing in Peel. According to an April 2012 report, the region has Ontario’s second longest waiting list for subsidized housing — after Toronto — with 12,853 households in line. Families can expect to wait six to 11 years to get in, according to the report.

But Pelleschi insists that to keep the system sustainable, more than 50 per cent of tenants have to be able to pay market rent. To attract them, public housing must be as appealing as private rental properties.

“We can’t afford to have buildings (with tenants) that are 100 per cent subsidized,” he said. “We have to make those buildings competitive.”
Bruce Smith is the CEO of Woodgreen Community Services, which helps people find affordable housing in Toronto. He said the outward appearance of developments is important for the vibrancy of a low-income community.

“If you want people to take care of the place, you have to engage them. But they also have to feel that it’s a place worth caring for,” said Smith. “If it doesn’t look very good, you get the attitude: ‘If they don’t care why should I care?’”

Graeme Stewart, an associate with ERA Architects and founding member of Toronto’s Tower Renewal Project, said outward appearance is nice, but takes a back seat to the community integration. He said accessibility to parks and amenities, and social space where tenants can gather and plan events, are especially important.

“You can’t just have a fantastic-looking building that just doesn’t function,” said Stewart. “We want places to have dignity and community value.”
Alex Ballingall January 24, 2013