Thunder Bay city staff recommend Miles Street East as temporary shelter village site, again

Thunder Bay's temporary shelter village may be built on Miles Street East after all.

City administration is recommending councillors approve the location on Monday.

The same site was previously considered by councillors, who voted it down in the fall. They later approved Kam River Heritage Park as the location for the village, which would include sleeping cabins for use by the city's unhoused population.

However, safety concerns at Kam River park — namely that the village would be bordered by the Kaministiquia River on one side and a rail yard on the other — led councillors to rescind that decision. Administrators were then tasked with making another recommendation at a recent meeting.

"It's important to note that almost every community that is having these conversations, that are trying to build and construct these initiatives, is having a challenge finding a location," said Coun. Brian Hamilton, who represents the McKellar Ward in which the Miles Street East site is located.

"This is very difficult," he said. "It's got a lot of political and emotional angles, and a high degree of public interest … so, we're back at the spot which was arguably maybe the best spot."

The city has budgeted $5 million for the project, but has said it would be eligible for $2.8 million in provincial funding if certain timelines are met, including the completion of "at least 80 units and ancillary structures by Dec. 31, 2025."

However, in order to meet those timelines, construction would need to start by the end of July. Monday's meeting is one of only two council meetings taking place this month.

Hamilton said he didn't support the Miles Street location in the fall over concerns about its size.

"I felt like it couldn't accommodate the 80 to 100 units that were proposed for that site," he said. "I thought that was a bit ambitious."

"However, given some of the information, I'm not sure the province is going to request that we have full occupancy all year round," Hamilton said.

In addition, he said the city now owns land adjacent to the site.

"What's important to me is to create a site that people want to live [in]," Hamilton said. "The last thing I want to do is is create some kind of bunker kind of system where people don't have fundamental things that … each one of us take for granted, like a modicum of privacy, a little bit of space to park a bicycle, or to have a small area that one might consider a bit of a yard."

"I think the space is there to do what we'd like to do," he said. "It's kind of the make or break moment. I don't think administration is going to come back with any other option, and so it's do the project or not."

Other concerns raised in the fall were around security and safety for area residents and businesses. In Monday's resolution, the city included "a recurring financial contribution, reviewed annually, of $125,000 be included in the 2026 Fort William Business Improvement Association (BIA) Budget to support their revitalization efforts and address concerns related to security and cleanliness."

Hamilton said that measure, if approved, would be helpful.

"But what I have discovered, and what I think is fast becoming the best practice, is that it's important to have a community liaison committee which would be made up of business owners, stakeholders, potentially city council representatives and neighbours," he said. "That's going to be a critical piece in making sure that operationally, this facility can be integrated into the wider community."

"That's the most important thing there. There has to be some element of neighbourhood cohesion."