Sudbury low-income housing needs help from feds, province

The chair of Sudbury's Planning Committee says the city wants to invest in more low-income housing, but can't do so unless the provincial and federal governments pitch in.

Low-income housing in Sudbury is reaching critical mass, said city councillor Dave Kilgour, following the eviction of more than 40 people from a Pine Street rooming house this month.

“I guess the sad part is, and the worst part is, that it's not getting better,” he said.

“And it will not get better until there are some dollars loosened up from the federal government that start flowing through the system to get down here.”

Currently, the city doesn't have a mandate to provide housing, Kilgour noted. However, he said money is being borrowed from other areas of the municipal budget to help meet basic needs.

"We've done the best we can and we provide whatever dollars we can to ensure that … people are not left on the street and that they're cared for,” he said.

“But as for as providing low-cost housing, we just simply don't have the dollars within our budget."

According to the Greater Sudbury Homelessness Network, the wait time for a single person to find a spot in low-income housing is a minimum of two years.

Kilgour added, however, that tearing down the Pine Street rooming house is the right move.

“If there's a choice between parking or living space for people, I'm going to pick living space,” he said.

“But if that living space is beyond rehabilitation, or if it's not safe, then a parking lot is a lot safer than having an unsafe building."

The new owner has deemed the building unsafe, and plans to level it to make way for a parking lot.

This month, the planning committee legalized another, smaller rooming house in the city.

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