Fraud Scheme
I became aware of Barrie Housing's fraud scheme on June 18, 2024. In an effort to silence me, Barrie Housing has launched a defamation lawsuit against me. However, I’ve filed a motion to dismiss it under rule 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act. My Motion to Dismiss was scheduled to be heard on December 31, 2024. However, Justice McKelvey didn't think there was enough time for it to be heard in half-an-hour (and I agree), so it will be rescheduled.
I figured out Barrie Housing was engaged in a fraud scheme when I discovered the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) was engaged in the exact same scheme. I stumbled across an article published on CityLimits.org and that's when I realized that Barrie Housing was knee-deep in the exact same thing.
Here's a copy of the article, plus a copy of an article I wrote right beside it, to help show readers the Canadian-version of the similarities between the two:
How I Found Out
During the Covid 19 pandemic in 2020, there was a period of time when non-essential employees were not allowed to physically go to work. This meant that social assistance administrators such as Ontario Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (“CCSS”) and Employment and Social Development Canada (“ESDC”) employees were not able to physically go to work. This resulted in all social assistance beneficiaries receiving the maximum amount of social assistance benefits via automatic deposit, even though they weren’t eligible for the max amounts.
This caused all social assistance beneficiaries, such as myself, to receive way too much money, and we're all paying it back each month now. This is not the problem. This explanation simply describes the circumstances leading to the fraud scheme.
In late 2021, I became aware of an overcharge on my housing account file after I inquired about my new rental rate on four separate occasions, and when Barrie Housing still didn't tell me the amount of my overcharge, I threatened to tell national news outlets.
That's when I ended up having a half-hour phone call with Barrie Housing's CEO, Mary-Anne Denny-Lusk, as seen below, and that's when I found out that the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) had been paying my rent directly to Barrie Housing on my behalf. Since no one told me though, I was also paying my rent. This means that Barrie Housing was being paid twice each month for an undisclosed period of time.
Recorded Phone Call
I recorded this phone call between myself and Mary-Anne Denny-Lusk on April 26, 2022, because if phone calls aren't recorded with Barrie Housing, their staff lie about what they say. Here are some key statements made by Mary-Anne Denny-Lusk, at the following time stamps:
1:04: “But there is a large credit and a significant portion we can absolutely release before we even talk about that; the ODSP piece.”
12:48: “… this is all you making overpayments because if you’re double paying on your rent, we owe you that money back to you, not to ODSP.”
17:05: “Yeah, and we’ll just communicate that with you. Like, we’ll break-it-down; this is how much is going to you, this is how much is going to ODSP, and then by the end of this, your balance should be zero.”
Here's the audio recording, if you'd like to listen for yourself:
Finally, on May 9, 2022, Barrie Housing issued me a cheque in the amount of $2,628.53. At the time, I didn't suspect Barrie Housing of being dishonest about the amount of my overcharge. However, on October 30, 2024, I received the direct-payment ledger directly from ODSP, which is when I found out that ODSP had been paying my rent directly to Barrie Housing on-and-off for seven years (between 2015 and 2022).
Barrie Housing's Refusal to Provide a Financial Breakdown
Here's a table of the specific times I requested the audit / review documents that explain how Barrie Housing came up with the $2,628.53 overcharge dollar amount.
Service Manager Delegation Agreement
I finally submitted an MFIPPA request for a copy of the Service Manager Delegation Agreement between Barrie Housing and the County of Simcoe. That's when I discovered that Barrie Housing has contravened sections 7.07, 7.08, 8.03, 9.01, 9.02, 9.03, 9.04, 9.05, 9.09, 9.11, and 11.06 of its Service Agreement with the County of Simcoe.