City Giving Boost to Ford City Homes

The City of Windsor is pouring more than $60,000 into Ford City for the revitalization of residential properties.

The funds are coming through the Ford City Residential Rehabilitation program aimed at creating a safe and attractive neighbourhood. 

Kerry Ippolito is with the Ford City Redevelopment Committee.

She tells AM800 News the program is helping to bring life back into the community.

"We still have people that they don't come anywhere near our community, they don't look at it, and now with all of this media attention and driving through there they see the changes that are being made both in the commercial and in the residential core," says Ippolito. "There's a lot of pride in Ford City and there's a lot of beautification going on."

Ippolito adds many residents in the neighbourhood need help.

"The vast majority of people who live in Ford City are already lower income or they're seniors. It's kind of the 'broken window theory', if you fix that broken window other people are going to start fixing theirs up," she says. "So this allows other people who haven't had that opportunity to do some beautification that brings up the community as a whole."

Ford City Redevelopment Committee Co-chair Kerry Ippolito (Photo by AM800's Zander Broeckel)

Ippolito feels it's a win-win for the neighbourhood and the city.

"There's so many houses where people have walked away from it because they can't afford the repairs on it and those houses are being demolished," she says. "In our city, we need the housing stock and we need this middle income housing stock to stick around. We don't want to continue to lose it because people can't afford to make the necessary repairs."

The funding will be used for repairs and improvements at seven properties across Ford City.

Most homes in the neighbourhood were built in the 1930's and 40's and are in need of new windows, doors, porches and overall aesthetic upgrades.