Homestarts Incorporated

My experience with Homestarts covers 8 years as a director at my co-op. And I’ve been a harsh and vocal critic of their competence. Good management is part of the foundation for sound governance and decision-making. For many reasons, some I’ve documented below, Homestarts hasn’t delivered. They’ve been a huge source of frustration for our board and many members that have dealt with them (some individuals in particular). A recent headscratching situation illustrates that their priority isn’t the client.At a board meeting, Homestarts staff told our Board that if I continued on as a Director, then Homestarts would walk away from our co-op (I wasn’t present but this has been corroborated by multiple directors in attendance). Wow – I’ll accept being frowned upon for being critical, but to shut a member out of participating in their own co-op raises serious questions of ethics and legality. Homestarts also refused to provide me with an additional form to nominate other members to stand for our last election. As a member, I’m allowed to nominate as many people as I want. Homestarts even miscalculated the number of open director seats (seriously, its not that hard). And so we find ourselves having less than a full board, less than a quorum even which is totally unacceptable. Our auditors will be interested in this knowledge.Other observations that any co-op considering bringing in Homestarts should know:- Their staff turnover rate is very high, with some Coordinators leaving in a matter of weeks. The turnover has been very disruptive, effectively resetting all initiatives to square one each time and destroying our institutional memory.- Coordinators tend to be new hires, without any appreciable experience in residential or commercial property management.- Their training program is evidently lacking. Staff are expected to learn on the job, but don’t take my word for it – read the horrid reviews from their own ex-employees on Glassdoor or Indeed.- Judging from their job postings, they offer very low compensation for a demanding job. Their Coordinators can expect to get paid at or below the generally accepted “living wage” for Toronto.- So we’re left with staff that perpetually lack a solid grasp or understanding of our by-laws and established practices. This has resulted in many questionable outcomes from board decisions that were under- or even ill-informed. They’ve costed our co-op thousands of dollars that wouldn’t otherwise have needed to be spent (e.g., regretful maintenance decisions, legal fees, chasing arrears payments, writing off bad debts, prolonged vacancy losses, etc.).- Their over-reliance on email “board polls” to make decisions has, at times, reduced the board’s role to a rubber stamp rather than legit decision maker. They seem to treat due process as an inconvenience. They’ve confused the concepts of “quorum” and “majority” in interpreting the result of these random “polls,” while the board isn’t always afforded the quantity nor quality of information needed to support the decision.- Once, I observed one of their Managers (the person above “Coordinator”) dismiss and disparage our member following a “notice to appear” meeting, saying “yeah, we hear those kinds of excuses all the time from people in co-ops.” Members have a right to fairness, and when I raised this matter (along with other persistent issues), this Manager dismissed me accusing me of playing a “blame game.” Ouch.- Another time, inside our master By-law binder, I discovered that Homestarts staff misplaced the personal tax return of one of our members. Ironically, it was sitting on top of our PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection …) By-law. We’re entering bizarro world now…- Homestarts opened our annual budget discussion asking “how much should the housing charge to increase next year?” Sorry, we’re non-profit – we budget based on our priorities, not how much we can squeeze from members.- There’s much more, but Google only allows 4,000 characters.

They choose to whom give the lead!! Consumers can not choose the contractors … i will never recommend this company and spend the same amount on Social media promotions to get more leadsIt’s basically a scam!!

This is stole company font do any business here they call ne for 6 months crazy after six months guy told me is lot work area around my home i did all paper work after that not people contact to me no customer coming to my page but they still send me invoices please dont do anything with this company go far way the arr stole people

I needed a gas line repair in a house and within 2 minutes of me filling in the form I got a call from someone that tried to sell me a new furnace without even coming out to me house. The issue is with the pipe. I told him I wasn't going to buy a new furnace and he said he'd call me back and never did. BEWARE of these trades people on this site trying to sell you what you don't need. I had a client that used an HVAC guy from reliant they found through here and it ended up costing her $4k for A/C that wasn't working properly and she had pay someone else to replace the whole unit.

they don't answer phones or emails. they threaten you with eviction when you speak your mind. they treat residents like nobody especially the ones at UPWOOD PARK SALVADOR CO OP..they are very unprofessional. i dont think they needed reading and comprehension skills for the job

Attempted to get a basic cable bill problem fixed between Jarvis-George Housing Co-operative and Roger's Communications, all I needed for my lawyer was a copy of the contract; HomeStarts refused. My basic cable has been shut off since 2017 and they have refused to help me with lost and stolen services. I've paid for basic cable for four years and I have not received one day. This is a contract for basic cable that is being mismanaged, the other more serious problems are dealt with the same efficiency and gusto.Emergency phone service is off-site, and from a dispatch centre so you can't have a familiar person to speak about a chronic plumbing leak and water damage problem that needs immediate attention.

Took over 177 mutual a few months ago, and what a total disaster!!!Building has never been so fulthy and dirty inside and out, even rats in the inside lobby in the day time.Cleaning person is the laziest person every. Doest care, uses same mop water for while building, and just drags mop around.Thank gid the board and city will have them the hell out of here within a year.Then they should be sued fir all the upkeep not done and damage!!!

The worst! Especially management at upwood park/Salvador Co op! They don't answer your calls! They don't deal with any of your building issues. All they do is email you back saying they are aware and dealing with it but do absolutely nothing. Extremely unprofessional and useless!

they have started at our co-op (clarion-co -op homes in cambridge) wow where do I start, they don't answer phones, emails etc. I put in a work order in dec 2022 to replace a light fixture in the kitchen and still nothing is being done. I suggest no one uses Home starts at all, they are not reliable at all

Homestarts deserves no stars. Worse bias management company staff etc cleaner superintendent. Horrible. No accountability for their staff actions.