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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday April 9, 2008 - 5 Region wanted empty homes for affordable housing Continued from page 1 K YOU THAN RIO Late last year, the Region called on the Department of National Defence (DND) to allow Halton to use the largely vacant military housing complex, located in the area of Dorval Drive and Rebecca Street, to help solve the Region's affordable housing shortage. A few weeks ago the Region received its reply. "The minister has come back and said, `No,' he's not prepared to look into this," said Halton Region Chair Gary Carr. "He didn't give a reason." Known as the Ortona Barracks, the complex consists of 78 houses, the vast majority of which have been sitting empty ever since the 750 military personnel stationed there departed for Canadian Forces Base Toronto in 1971. The complex has been marked by the DND for disposal, however, the process is incredibly slow and has actually managed to last for more than a decade. Today, only 16 of the structures are inhabited and, with around 1,800 people sitting on waiting lists for affordable housing in Halton, this is something the Region finds unacceptable. Carr noted that utilizing the existing structures would be considerably cheaper than accommodating people in hotels, which is the Region's current method for providing emergency shelter. To see the Ortona Barracks become such a complex, the Region now faces two choices. The first choice is to allow the DND's surplus land disposal process to run its course, whereby the DND eventually sells the surplus land to the Crown Corporation Canada Lands, which in turn transmits it to the Region. For Carr, this option is less than ideal as it leaves the Region at the mercy of a very slow bureaucracy. "This has been going on since the '90s," said Carr. "It will be great if Canada Lands says, `You can use it,' once they take over, but this could be years away based on DND's past history." The second option, which appears to be the one Carr is leaning toward, is to go above MacKay. "I think probably what we'll now do, if the minister doesn't want to do anything, is appeal to the Prime Minister and see if he'll take a look at it," said Carr. While any effort to open the Ortona Barracks to affordable housing is sure to take time -- time is something the structures in question may not have an unlimited amount of. Halton Police reported around 20 incidents of vandalism and illegal entry taking place in the vacant buildings of the complex between January and the end of March. The majority of the break and enters are believed to be the work of adolescents simply looking for a place to hang out, however, one Mar. 30 intrusion seemed to have another purpose. "It started off as kids trespassing, they'd force the door, but do no other damage after they got in," said Brian Carr, Halton police public affairs officer. "In the most recent ones, there is some evidence that they were trying to steal the copper piping down below." 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