WIth the City of Greater Sudbury exceeding its provincially set housing target for 2023, the province has pledged $1.52 million toward municipal infrastructure.
Associate Housing Minister Rob Flack visited Tom Davies Square to make the announcement on Friday, noting that “infrastructure” comes up constantly among municipal leaders.
Described by Flack as an “insatiable need,” Mayor Paul Lefebvre told Sudbury.com that the funding will “go right back into infrastructure.”
There’s no lack of projects the funding can go toward, with the city’s latest infrastructure spending gap estimate hitting $130 million annually.
The money comes as a result of the city breaking ground on 436 new housing units last year, which puts the city well on track to hitting its 10-year target of 3,800 units.
Funding will be divided annually among municipalities who meet their targets over a three-year period, with the $1.52 million reflecting 2023. During its three years, the province plans on spending $1.2 billion.
“I’m sure you’ll be back for years two and three to get more,” Flack said — a sentiment Lefebvre later echoed in conversation with Sudbury.com, noting there’s early indication they will either meet or exceed their 2023 total again in 2024.
“The big thing holding up all types of housing is infrastructure,” Flack told Sudbury.com, adding that provincial funding will “help us build more affordable housing.”
Despite this assertion, affordable housing typically isn’t built without government subsidies.
Lefebvre cited three examples of affordable housing efforts currently under construction, including the 40-unit transitional housing complex on Lorraine Street, the 14-unit seniors building on Sparks Street and the 347-unit Project Manitou in downtown Sudbury.
The federal and municipal governments helped fund all three projects, while the province’s involvement has been limited to $1 million toward the Lorraine Street project’s $14.4-million total construction cost (against a federal commitment of $7.4 million and the city funding the balance).
Sudbury.com asked Flack what the province has done to support affordable housing, and he pointed to “more than $3 billion” toward “affordable housing and supportive housing.”
Flack’s office later clarified that the amount of funding “to grow and enhance community and supportive housing programs” the province has been citing in recent months is $4 billion committed over the past three years.
When it comes to operational funding for the city’s transitional housing complex and supervised consumption site, which both need to be staffed with medical teams which fall under provincial jurisdiction, Flack said the province is “always looking at it.”
“We talked about this with the premier yesterday ... and it’s always under review,” he said of the two projects, which are not currently funded by the province.
“We’ll do what we can, where we can, to support everyone in the housing continuum.”
Given that Greater Sudbury city council have been advocating for provincial funding toward these two projects for years and have yet to receive anything, Sudbury.com asked why the province hasn’t made any decisions.
“Can’t answer that,” Flack said. “I’ll get back to you, how’s that?”
The transitional housing complex’s operational costs are slated to be covered by the city when it opens this year, while the supervised consumption site was municipally funded on a temporary basis before closing last month due to a lack of provincial funding.
Lefebvre told Sudbury.com that he’d continue advocating for the province to fund these services, as well as for funding toward affordable housing projects.
“I know there are new programs from the province, and certainly we’ll try to tap into that,” he said, adding that if the private market isn’t going to build affordable housing, it’ll be up to municipal, provincial and federal governments to step up.
On that front, he said he was crossing his fingers there will be an announcement soon for another transitional housing project in Greater Sudbury.
Meanwhile, Lefebvre said the city is continuing its work to update its collection of grants and tax incentives to spur the construction of housing, including affordable housing, and the Future-Ready Development Services Committee should receive a list of recommendations from city administration soon on how to spur economic growth, including residential builds.
Last year, a report commissioned by the City of Greater Sudbury clarified that local affordable housing stock is well short of demand, and that builders have targeted a “very narrow segment of the market” with upper-end single-family homes.
With lower-cost homes in short supply and high demand, their cost has spiked.
An underlying issue with affordable housing, according to the report is that “population growth and eroding affordability in the ownership market are driving rental demand across Greater Sudbury, resulting in low vacancy and strong increases in rental rates.”
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.