While we all hope our jobs stay safe so we can afford the King West condos we really like, the reality is that sometimes not everything works out like you had planned. Perhaps you lose your job or the cost of living jumps, and suddenly you find that you can't afford your home anymore. If you're planning on moving to Windsor, Ontario, you'll have a safety net to fall back on if something like this happens. It's Windsor's Community Housing Program. You can learn more about it here.

Going by the name of WinHome, the affordable housing program was a joint effort between the City of Windsor Housing Company Limited and the City of Windsor Non-Profit Housing Corporation. Together these two entities were responsible for creating and maintaining over 1,000 housing units to rent out at low rates far below what you would pay for a Toronto condo. This enabled low income and underemployed people in Windsor to afford a place to live. The program was a success for many years until the amalgamation craze hit Ontario.

Then in 2007 WinHome was amalgamated with its counterpart organization in the surrounding County of Essex, and the resulting organization is now called the Windsor Essex Community Housing Corporation. Though their name is different, their mandate has stayed the same: to make sure there is Windsor real estate available to residents who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford mortgage payments on a house or rent on an apartment on their current paychecks. The program enjoys just as much success, if not more, than it did before the amalgamation.

The new community housing organization runs over 4,000 homes in the city of Windsor and the surrounding county of Essex. These homes are rented in three separate programs. One is geared to seniors on low or fixed incomes that have had to put up their Leslieville homes for sale when they retired. The second program provides specialized housing for people with disabilities or accessibility problems. And the third provides low income people with a home with fair rent based on how much they earn. To rent community housing in Windsor, you'll need to fit into one of these three categories.

The community housing corporation isn't just about getting low income people off the streets. It's about improving their quality of life and encouraging everyone to contribute to the community. To live in a community housing project you must agree to be fair to everyone and treat your neighbors with respect. You may think you'll never need to apply, but some day the telecom expense management committee might decide to save money by cutting your job. So keep the community housing corporation - www.wechc.com - in your bookmarks just in case.