Should we copy a Barrie housing model? Mayoral hopeful thinks so

Mayoral candidate Matthew Shoemaker is looking south to a made-in-Barrie solution for ideas on how to address the housing crisis here in Sault Ste. Marie.

“We have heard from home buyers and developers that the need for housing at our city is at a crisis point,” said Shoemaker in a news release sent Wednesday. “By implementing a program like the New Foundations program that has been rolled out successfully in Barrie, we can encourage under-utilized land to be used for multi-unit housing projects.”

New Foundations is a program through which the city of Barrie offers select property owners the chance to apply for financial support to do an affordable housing feasibility study. Each study in that city is estimated to cost about $20,000.

Affordable housing is a range of housing types allowing families and individuals, of all income levels, to find suitable places to live without spending a disproportionate percentage of their income on housing. Affordable housing can include ownership, rental or subsidized housing.

The program was introduced as part of Barrie’s affordable housing taskforce initiative in 2021 and public consultations were held in Barrie earlier this year.

About 4,000 new homes are projected to be needed in the Sault between now and 2040.

If the program is implemented in the Sault, the city’s planning staff would be asked to reach out to not-for-profit entities, cultural organizations or religious organizations that have large parcels of under-developed land.

A  feasibility study would be completed on each of those lands to determine how it could best service the needs of the organization, as well as the need for additional housing. Once the plan is developed, the not-for-profit could apply to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, for mortgage funding for the proposed development.

The development plan and business case would be partially funded by the City of Sault Ste. Marie through the Community Development Fund, with up to a $20,000 contribution to each project to a total of $200,000 for the overall program.

Shoemaker - who is up against Ozzie Grandinetti, Donna Hilsinger and Tobin Kern - says residents of the Sault would benefit from more housing supply and participating organizations would gain new income streams from the rentals.

“We have seen this type of project work in our community, both at the Trinity Tower project at the corner of Northern Avenue and Great Northern Road, and at the Royal Canadian Legion property on Great Northern Road,” said Shoemaker. “What we now need is a concerted effort to take what has worked for those projects and implement it across the community, with the main push being on development in the downtown area.”

— with files from BarrieToday