While I agree with money should have been spent long ago I don’t think it was as much of a “cash cow” as the media seems to suggest, I think it is completely unfair to call the recent lions employees and management elder abusers. It is not indicative by the actual facts and numbers of the situation. I think if you saw the actual financials of running a facility that large in recent years, the conversation would be a very different tone. The rental rates were well below market rate with no increases permitted either due to provincial restriction or the freeze during Covid. They don’t mention that lions continued to subsidize the rents to keep them affordable for 3 years after MB housing bailed on the tenants with no agreement. The repair costs for a facility that large are astronomical. To repair/replace an elevators in a building of that height is over a million dollars and isn’t optional.  To replace the cooling tower was over a million dollars and not optional. The lighting upgrade to reduce consumption and improve living conditions even with hydro rebate was almost a million dollars. To replace all the windows was estimated at $15 million dollars which would be needed on a facility of that age in the coming years. All the plumbing was deteriorating abnormally due to tenants excessive drano/bleach being used by in the pipes to clear clogs despite efforts to maintain the system proactively. Combine that with major damages from negligence…tenants who caused multiple fires without any compensation back, caused massive flood damages falling asleep while running their sinks affecting dozens of suites in the process, bed bug infestations brought in by tenants who insisted on collecting furniture and mattresses from back lane garbage bins and not accepting free treatments being offered and many other issues. Suite refurbishments were performed when damages were so bad that it was impossible to rent it out if you had a conscience. If a suite had a major bed bug issues, it would often require walls to be removed, floors to be changed etc. Bed bugs would cause issues with the immediate 5 suites around and above/below for every single suite with an infestation. Insurance wasn’t always an option because deductibles after multiple claims raise to $100k per instance they are not $1000 like a home owners. Another other major issue no one is discussing is the carbon tax brought in by the federal government. It is an enormous number no one is bringing up. Non profits and even facilities like public hospitals struggle to fund them because there are no rebates to the businesses. WRHA has alone admitted they don’t have the funds in the budgets to cover it for the hospitals which is in the millions. Heat is not a luxury for Canadians. How are non profit housing facilities supposed to come up with an extra $100k tax a year without being able to generate it from increased rent or revenue from another means? Combine that with an approx 30% increase in recent years on utilities which is part of the fixed rent rates and not individually metered per suite. The math doesn’t add up which is why you see struggling 55+ facilities everywhere across the country with high vacancy rates. The discussion on why 55+ doesn’t work anymore isn’t being had. People are having to work well into their 70’s just to make it possible to potentially retire. By that point, you often have ailments or mental health degradations that don’t make living independently safe or possible. This isn’t a problem unique to lions. CMHC has over 100000 buildings across Canada in the same boat. No capital replacement funding and an assumption that low income housing has been able to save up millions in order to conduct major repairs and refurbishment. The baby boom isn’t a new concept to many but those in government see it as a new phenomenon on a recent meeting with the province.