Provincial officials visited Sudbury on Friday to announce $4 million in subsidies toward an $85-million local expansion by mining equipment and engineering company Sandvik.
This, a few days after City of Greater Sudbury budget deliberations took place in which two proposed transitional housing complexes the city “needed yesterday,” as Mayor Paul Lefebvre put it, were deferred due to a lack of funding commitments to date from senior levels of government.
“We are working with other levels of government to do this as fast as we can,” Lefebvre said earlier this week. “We’re looking at every possibility for funding these, but it is a priority for this council and we’re going to be applying as soon as that (funding) window opens.”
The two complexes totalling 65 units would be staffed with wraparound supports to help get the chronically homeless into permanent community housing during a time in which approximately 254 people (as of the latest count in September) are residing in encampments locally and the city has established a sanctioned encampment downtown, spurred by what city CAO Shari Lichterman described as “crisis mode.”
Since that time, area residents and front-line workers have expressed concern for the safety of people who call the encampment home.
Meanwhile, the province announced funds for a HART Hub in downtown Sudbury with wraparound services for the homeless community in January, but details on the effort remain scant and nothing appears to have taken shape. A website for the hub still says, “Coming soon.”
In Sudbury.com’s experience, provincial ministries do not grant media interviews under the Ford government, so we took Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Minister Victor Fedeli’s local appearance for Friday’s groundbreaking ceremony at Sandvik as an opportunity to ask questions outside of the topic at hand.
Although homelessness falls outside the auspices of Fedeli’s Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade profile, he is also the one of the closest Progressive Conservative MPPs to Sudbury, serving the North Bay-area riding of Nipissing (which isn’t without homelessness).
On the question of “where’s the urgency from the province” in tackling homelessness, Fedelli said, “All of these organizations are making pre-budget consultations, and we look forward to seeing the budget in the new year to see what gets covered.”
As for the optics of announcing a $4-million business subsidy during a time in which local municipal officials are actively seeking funding to bring an end to homelessness, Fedeli responded by raising economic concerns.
“We are at war with the United States right now, in the middle of an economic war, and as the minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, our job is to bring companies here, create employment, so that the province has the revenue to do the things that it needs to do,” he said, adding that without raising taxes, the current provincial government has already boosted revenue by billions of dollars to spend on such services as health care.
Fedeli explained that his job is to “Go out, bring the businesses in so that the tax revenue can be put in the provincial coffers to distribute to health, mental health and addiction, education, transportation, environment, all of the areas. That’s my job; bring home the money.”
As such, there were no clear commitments or insights provided regarding provincial urgency and action in tackling homelessness.
Meanwhile, Lefebvre pledged this week to join municipal staff in continuing to advocate for funding toward homelessness from the federal and provincial governments.
(The city’s $350-million plan to end homelessness by 2030 remains largely unfunded.)
During his public remarks, Fedeli described Lefebvre as “a solid champion for Sudbury” who “fights very, very hard, every day, every month. He is representing you solidly.”
In 2024, government funding toward homelessness in Greater Sudbury included, according to city communications staff:
- 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.