City of Thunder Bay receives $880K from Ontario for exceeding 2024 housing target
Premier Doug Ford announced funding in Thunder Bay on Thursday

The City of Thunder Bay has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra funding from the province after exceeding its 2024 housing target.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford made the announcement at Thunder Bay city hall on Thursday.
"You hammered your target," Ford said. "You knocked it out of the park. That ball is still going."
Ford said Thunder Bay exceeded its housing target by 143 per cent, and will receive $880,000 from the Building Faster Fund as a result.
"I hope that this money will be used to help get even more homes built, so I can come back next year with even a bigger cheque."
The city's housing target for 2024 was 183 new units.

"We all know, folks, we're in the midst of a housing crisis, not only in this province but throughout Canada," Ontario's municipal affairs and housing minister, Rob Flack, said during Thursday's media conference. "And as you know, our provincial population has doubled and grown significantly, and housing starts have not kept pace.
"As a result, costs have risen to the point where families, first-time homebuyers and seniors are being priced out of the housing market."
Flack said the reason the province launched the $1.2-billion Building Faster Fund in 2023 was to "reward municipalities that lead by example, like Thunder Bay, when it comes to cutting red tape and creating the conditions to get homes built."
Summer Stevenson, project manager with the city, said the money received by the province will be used to fund infrastructure projects, which in turn supports new housing.
"Part of our housing initiatives here in Thunder Bay is to look for areas of the city where we can strategically extend services in order to support infill housing, so it's all in line with the goals of our housing initiatives, of the Housing Accelerator fund programs," she said. "This money will help support that bigger picture."
Stevenson said the city's 2025 provincial housing target is 220 units.
"It'll be a little bit more challenging than last year but if we have a strong year like last year, we should once again knock the target out of the park," she said.
Thunder Bay's overall provincial housing target is 2,200 new units by 2031 (the city's federal target is 1,691 new homes by February 2027).
Ford also announces funding to support trades
The housing announcement wasn't the only one Ford made in Thunder Bay on Thursday.
Later in the day, he announced more than $4 million in funding through the Skills Development Fund to "help nearly 500 people in Thunder Bay and surrounding areas find good-paying jobs in the construction, industrial, mining and transportation sectors."
The funding is being split among five organizations in the region, which will use the money to provide free training programs in sectors affected by U.S. tariffs and policies:
- Just over $800,000 is going to IBEW Local 402 to help train new electricians in the region, focusing on the industrial and mining sectors.
- About $960,000 is going to Behind the Wheel to provide driver education training.
- About $920,000 will go to LiUNA Local 607 to train more women for in-demand construction jobs.
- Keewaytinook Okimakanak Board of Education is receiving about $860,000 to provide Red Seal carpentry apprenticeships, and heavy-duty equipment technician training, to Indigenous people in six remote First Nations.
- Ironworkers Local 759 is receiving about $530,000 to deliver hands-on welding training.
- Millwright Local 1151 is receiving about $186,000 to train workers in the industrial and construction sectors.
"We're protecting Ontario workers by training them today for the jobs of tomorrow," David Piccini, minister of labour, immigration, training and skills development, said in a statement.
"Through targeted investments in innovative training projects across Thunder Bay and surrounding areas, we're building a stronger, more resilient workforce and ensuring Ontario remains competitive in the face of U.S. tariffs."
With files from Sarah Law