It is an honour for me to represent the City and OCH tenants. I have discovered a passion for this organization because housing is primary for every resident.  

OCH is an essential workplace, as we have seen throughout the COVID 19 pandemic. While most were at home, the dedicated OCH team continued to ensure caring activities as a landlord continued safely (repairs, call-centre, safety service…)

After sitting on the Board for five years, it was a pleasure to chair the Board since 2015.  I take the role of chair very seriously.  OCH is the City’s largest landlord with more than 15 000 units. OCH communities have become a proper mix of the diversity that we find in Ottawa today.  We are landlords for seniors, families, individuals, and newcomers. Moreover, we have various buildings and unit sizes to ensure affordable units are adequately serving all demographics in our City.  

I am proud of the transformation we have begun at OCH.  A few years ago, we embarked on developing a robust set of strategies, policies and workforce modernization to be Canada’s best public housing organization.  We will continue to modernize to ensure our services are focused on the tenant experience (from strong tenant engagement, coordinate and timely move in, modern tenant support, to quality and timely building and unit repairs). All groups at OCH are now aligned to ensure the organization delivers a high-quality service, which you would expect from a good landlord. 

Since the average age of our buildings is 50 years, it was important for the Board to implement strategies to invest in the building portfolio. We did that by adopting the Dynamic Portfolio Management Framework. This framework allowed OCH management to see grand with development and redevelopment objectives, partnership with the housing sector, and the best and responsible new housing standards: building better and greener buildings. In addition, it will serve to rejuvenate our buildings by building more units and offering mixed-income and mixed-use environments across all communities in Ottawa.

Some recent OCH projects include:

• Ontario’s first mixed-use passive house at 1290 Coldrey Avenue *the Old St. Patrick Housing Development, which includes 15 3-bedroom homes, a six-story, 
• 108 unit building at 811 Gladstone, the development of 550 new affordable units at Gladstone Village, 
• The Mikinak project within Wateridge Village
• 698 new units at three different locations along Gladstone Avenue 

I am proud of OCH’s work to support the City of Ottawa, tenants and all communities.  We are a 24 hours, seven days a week, 365 days a year organization, and we are proud of our role in ensuring residents can have an affordable home in Ottawa.