Waitlist Changes: Refusals

This amendment to Ontario Regulation 367/11 provides that a household is no longer eligible for RGI assistance if they refuse an offer for housing for which they have expressed a preference and meet the occupancy standards, except in extenuating circumstances as determined by the Service Manager. The change applies to all applicants on the social housing waitlist, including special priority applicants.

This means an applicant on the waitlist will no longer receive three offers of housing before being deemed ineligible. Waitlist applicants will receive one offer of housing. This new one offer rule applies to all applicants on the waitlist including special needs and special priority applicants. Housing Services has been actively working with the CHR-WEC to implement this significant change.

All current waitlist applicants have been notified of the change and new applicants are notified when they apply to the CHR-WEC.

This legislative change came into effect on January 1, 2020 and all Service Managers are required to apply the rule by January 1, 2021. Windsor Essex will be implementing this change effective November 30, 2020.

This legislative change prompted changes to our:

• Local Rules Windsor Essex

• CHR- WEC’s application form , applicant location preference sheet and housing provider tracking sheets

The CHR-WEC has worked to support applicants and notify them of the changes as follows:

• An information package was sent to all applicants on the CHR waitlist in September 2020. This package included:

  • A letter that outlines the change to one offer, the impact of these changes, and the actions each applicant needs to take to remain active and on the waitlist;

  • A Current Building Preference sheet that indicates all current social housing location selections for each household;

  • A new Location Preference Sheet, which can be submitted by applicants that want to change their current location preferences; OR,

  • An Instruction Sheet outlining the steps to create a user account at https://www.socialhousingapplication.com/ to electronically make changes to the household location preferences.

Updates to the CHR-WEC website have been undertaken to provide information and direct applicants to the new Online Application portal.