The House Youth Centre looking for more favourable lease with town
- Ron Giofu
- 5 hours ago
- 3 min read
The future of The House Youth Centre is in question and town council is looking for ways it can help.
Councillor Diane Pouget put forth a motion during the June 23 meeting that administration meet with the board with The House to “negotiate a fair and equitable agreement similar to that of the Verdi Club and boxing club for use at the hub.”
The motion, which was passed, would be brought to council for review and possible consent.
Mayor Michael Prue said he didn’t have a problem with the motion, but point out each group in the Amherstburg Community Hub negotiated their own agreement.
“They were all negotiated in-camera,” he said, cautioning any future negotiations would be in-camera as well. “It’s like a business deal. You don’t discuss somebody else’s business in front of the world.”
Pouget said the business deal shows “they are being treated differently” than the other tenants in the Hub.
“They (the House Youth Centre) appear to be taking all the repairs on themselves,” she said. “That’s why I think it’s imperative that their board of directors meet with our administration to explain exactly what is going on. Our CAO said she has never been involved with these issues.”
Pouget added: “We’ve received lengthy correspondence from (The House) asking for our help. They are a non-profit organization. They have done so much for our youth over the past 50 years.”
Noting they were formerly called The House of Shalom, Pouget said they used to be at 247 Brock St. in the former St. Anthony School.
“They were told they were going to get a good deal. This deal does not seem to have the same fairness that was given to the other two,” she said. “That’s all I’m asking for is for a meeting with them, with administration and their directors to get this straightened out.”
The House pays the town a base rent plus Common Area Maintenance (CAM) fees to use the space, as outlined in its 2021, 10-year lease.
In 2021, when the House Youth Centre’s then-board of directors signed the lease, they negotiated the rental price in what the document calls “good faith.”
According to an e-mail sent by board member Jon Martin: “As acts of ‘good faith,’ the youth centre agreed to alert the Town when its finances improved and pay more. The Town agreed to set the rental price below market value, one that the struggling youth centre could afford.”
The CAM fees “fluctuate wildly – sometimes more than doubling what the youth centre must pay from one period to the next,” the House claims, also calling them “unpredictable” with that making planning a challenge.
The House says it has sought information from the town but responses thus far “were limited.”
The House primarily operates through fundraising and Martin stated “despite dramatic cost-cutting measures, its deficit widened as rent rose (it’s now the second-largest line item, after the organization’s single employee’s salary), grants dried up, and other expenses increased. House Youth Centre representatives approached other building tenants for advice and learned that fees seem to be applied inequitably at the Hub. One tenant, for example, who occupies the same square footage as the House Youth Centre, said they pay a fraction of the youth centre’s base rent. And they don’t pay any CAM fees.”
The House Youth Centre’s next fundraising event will be its golf tournament that is being held July 11 at Sutton Creek Golf Club.
For more information on The House Youth Centre, please visit www.thehouseyouthcentre.ca or one of their social media pages.
The House Youth Centre looking for more favourable lease with town
By Ron Giofu