With Greater Sudbury far exceeding its provincially mandated target of 317 housing unit starts last year, the province awarded the municipality another $1.52 million.
This marked the second year in which the city exceeded its targets to receive $1.52-million in provincial funding, with this year’s municipal permits pointing to 833 new housing units in 2024, which was approximately 265 per cent of last year’s provincial target of 317.
“A job well done,” Municipal Affairs and Housing Associate Minister Graydon Smith said during a media event at Tom Davies Square on Thursday to announce the funding. “This funding is well-deserved.”
The money, he explained, is “to reward those municipalities that lead by example when it comes to cutting red tape” to create housing.
Greater Sudbury city council has established the creation of more housing as a key goal during their present mandate, with many of their associated efforts included within the Housing Supply Strategy they adopted last year.
“We’re rewarding those municipalities that build homes because we know that you cannot build roads without access roads, sidewalks, sewer systems and more,” Smith said.
Following Thursday’s media event, Mayor Paul Lefebvre told Sudbury.com that the $1.52 million isn’t earmarked for any one specific project, but would go toward shoring up land for housing.
“We have a lot of plans for subdivisions that are not moving forward because we don’t have infrastructure,” he said, adding that the city’s goal is to de-risk lands to help spur the development of more housing — “From affordable to market, because there’s a need.”
In 2023, 436 housing units broke ground. As such, two years in, the city is well on track toward hitting its 10-year target of 3,800 units.
While Thursday’s provincial funding announcement was largely anticipated due to the well-established fact that the city had exceeded its 2024 housing target, there are various housing-related funding requests the city has not heard back from the province on.
Earlier this month, city council passed two motions in which they resolved to push senior levels of government to fund more transitional housing and shelter beds as part of their goal to bring a functional end to homelessness by 2030.
The plan carries a projected one-time cost of approximately $322 million, plus $13.6 million in annual operating costs and $11 million in additional rent supplements. Much of this cost would be funded by senior levels of government.
During Thursday’s media event, Sudbury.com asked Smith what his response to Greater Sudbury city council members has been when they bring up these funding requests.
His answer was non-committal.
“We appreciate the conversations and the opportunity to sit down and talk about what each community needs,” he said, adding that he discussed Greater Sudbury’s challenges and successes with Lefebvre just prior to Thursday’s media event.
“We will, of course, continue to work with the city to understand what their needs are and take the appropriate future steps.”
Smith pointed to the province's $6.3-million annual pledge toward the city for three years toward the HART Hub for homelessness and addictions services as an example of a provincial investment toward tackling these issues locally. This funding is going toward operations at the 40-unit transitional housing complex on Lorraine Street and a downtown-based project.
Following the media event, Lefebvre also flagged the $34.9-million the province announced last year toward Lively/Walden-area water/wastewater infrastructure to shore up lands for housing, which was later topped up by the federal government’s pledge of $28 million.
“We need those investments,” Lefebvre said, adding that with Greater Sudbury’s vast territory bringing infrastructure needs with it, the municipality can’t do it on their own.
Lefebvre also noted that the province needs the Greater Sudbury area to succeed, at least in part due to the region’s role in supplying the economy with critical minerals.
“Every opportunity I have with the minister, I provide him with that outlook,” Lefebvre said, later adding that the province hears from him regarding the city’s funding needs “all the time.”
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.