Families at new troubled public housing building on Baseline Road applaud proposed changes

A tenant says he welcomes changes to a London public housing building with a short but troubled history.

"I caught somebody doing a fentanyl drug deal right outside a family's door," said Michael Barrington, who's lived at 122 Base Line Rd. W. since 2023. "That put a bull's eye on my back."

The 61-unit building was completed in 2022. At the time, it was London's first municipally-built apartment building, with rents set below market value.

However, tenants of the building, including families with young children, have complained that some of their neighbours in the building are involved in illegal activity.

In 2024, tenant Darko Lukic died in the hospital after he was found unconscious outside the building. Police said Lukic was the victim of an assault.

In the days after his death, tenants told CBC News they felt the building was unsafe.

A city staff report coming to council next week lays out a plan with proposed steps to make the building safer.

"As the city's first project of this kind, there were challenges and lessons learned throughout development and early operations," the report said.

Among the problems flagged in the report: A tenant mix overly weighted to tenants with complex care needs. The original plan was to have 33 tenants at risk of homelessness, 14 with mental health or addiction issues and 14 of women and children fleeing domestic violence. The report says this mix was used to secure funding from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

"This requirement was misinterpreted that all tenants should be considered high acuity within these populations," the report said.

The report proposes that London and Middlesex Community Housing, which manages the building, work to shift the tenant mix toward "low acuity individuals and families at risk of homelessness with the prime barrier being income."

The report points to two highly supportive housing developments under construction and geared to higher-acuity tenants: 49 Elmwood Avenue (50 units) and a property operated by CMHA at 248-254 Hill St. (33 units). Neither were options when 122 Base Line Rd. W. began to take in tenants.

In a statement to CBC News, a spokesperson for London and Middlesex Community Housing said the organization supports the recommendations in the report and is wants to provide safe housing for the tenants.

"Our focus is on strengthening day-to-day operations, improving safety, and ensuring tenants have access to the supports they need," the statement said. "The planned improvements reflect what we have been hearing from tenants, and we are encouraged by the progress already underway."