In the city’s push to bring a functional end to homelessness by 2030, senior levels of government will need to step up.
Such was the prevailing theme through last week’s homelessness update within Greater Sudbury council chambers, at which two motions passed advocating for government funding.
Using federal and municipal funding, the city is seeking to develop an Indigenous-led transitional housing project and a youth shelter
“If you don’t have a plan, you don’t even get in the door,” Mayor Paul Lefebvre said of seeking funding from senior levels of government. “If you have a plan, the door opens and you're the first pick.”
The Indigenous-led transitional housing project would tackle both the city’s established need for more transitional housing units and the fact Indigenous people are disproportionately represented among the city’s homeless community.
During this week’s city council meeting, city Community Well-being general manager Tyler Campbell said that the city needs a “minimum” of two more Lorraine Street-style builds.
(The Lorraine Street building in question, which is anticipated to open later this month, is a 40-unit municipal transitional housing complex for the chronically homeless, including 24-hour supportive services funded by the province.)
The youth shelter would address what Lefebvre described as a growing prevalence of youth homelessness in Greater Sudbury.
“Just walk outside and you’ll see,” he told Sudbury.com following this week’s meeting.
There were 304 people who are homeless in Greater Sudbury, according to the city’s by-name list as of May, of whom 14 identified as aged 16-24.
On this front, the 304 people on the by-name list is a jump from the 237 recorded in May 2024.
This week’s two successful motions will see business cases drafted for consideration during 2026-27 budget deliberations slated to take place later this year, “outlining costs and potential funding sources, including any funding opportunities from provincial or federal ministries.”
Although the motions for an Indigenous-led transitional housing complex and youth shelter passed unanimously during this week’s meeting, a third motion by Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc did not find enough support to find success.
Leduc’s motion, which was rejected by an 8-5 vote of city council, requested a business case regarding a transitional housing tiny home project on city-owned lands, with communal washrooms and showers.
“This is about saving lives and moving people through a system,” Leduc said during the meeting, after which he told Sudbury.com that it’s about getting more people into transitional housing sooner rather than later.
Where a transitional housing complex can take years to build, Leduc said a tiny home community can be put up within months.
“It just doesn’t seem feasible,” Ward 4 Coun. Pauline Fortin said, adding that although it might look good on paper, she doesn’t believe a tiny home development would work in Greater Sudbury. Concerns cited include cold winters, expense and durability, with Campbell noting that tiny home developments don’t last as long as the multi-unit complexes the city is advocating for.
The following city council members voted yes to request a business case on tiny homes: Ward 2 Coun. Eric Benoit, Ward 3 Coun. Michel Brabant, Ward 8 Coun. Al Sizer, Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc and Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann.
The balance of city council voted no, including Ward 1 Coun. Mark Signoretti, Ward 4 Coun. Pauline Fortin, Ward 5 Coun. MIke Parent, Ward 6 Coun. René Lapierre, Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée, Ward 10 Coun. Fern Cormier and Mayor Paul Lefebvre.
Among those to reject the tiny homes investigation, Parent’s vote sticks out.
Parent is behind the city’s Roadmap to End Homelessness by 2030 plan, and visited a tiny home community in Peterborough last year to see whether it might be effective in Sudbury.
Although he concluded at the time that it appeared to be a success story in Peterborough, he has since found that it might not work as well in Sudbury.
“My belief was that we can do better than the tiny home community,” he told Sudbury.com, pointing to more-permanent transitional housing complexes as a viable long-term solution in facing Northern Ontario winters.
This, he said, was also the conclusion that city staff came to.
Although a tiny home project’s key selling point is that it can go up quickly as a stop-gap, Parent said that multi-unit complexes can also go up fast.
Although the Lorraine Street build is several months behind schedule, Parent cited the 38-unit Peace Tower housing complex on Pearl Street as an example of something that has been going up quickly.
In the shadow of the downtown water tower, crews have been seen lowering pre-engineered cross-laminated timber pieces into place for the last several days. Components are built off-site in southern Ontario and assembled quickly like Lego blocks on-site.
As for the Lorraine Street learning experience, Parent said, “We could start all over with different providers and have a different outcome.”
Although the financial need in addressing homelessness is much greater than what is being provided by governments, neither the federal nor provincial governments have been absent from the equation, locally.
In correspondence from city communications staff, Sudbury.com sought totals for 2024 homelessness initiatives funded by the municipality, provincial and federal governments.
- Federal government: A total of $7,536,000 spent on homelessness initiatives. Of that total, $2,436,000 was spent on social services (i.e., emergency shelters, housing assistance, community outreach, coordinated access, etc.) and $5,100,000 on housing (i.e., non-profit, rent supplements, capital repair projects, etc.).
- Provincial government: A total of $15,828,000 spent on homelessness initiatives. Of that total, $6,653,000 was spent on social services (i.e., emergency shelters, housing assistance, community outreach and support services, etc.) and $9,175,000 on housing (administration, rent supplements, capital builds/repair projects, housing allowance, etc.).
- Municipal government: A total of $24,122,000 spent on homelessness initiatives. Of that total, $1,155,000 was spent on social service and $22,967,000 on housing.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.