Northern Ontario cities granted 'strong mayor powers', financial incentives to build more homes

The Ontario government is extending its 'strong mayor powers' to four Northern Ontario cities, in return for a pledge to build more homes.

According to a government press release on Monday, the province said it has assigned housing targets to 21 additional municipalities across Ontario as part of its plan to build at least 1.5 million homes by 2031.

29 cities and towns in Ontario already have strong mayor powers. To obtain them, the municipalities submitted a housing pledge.

Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie and North Bay are among the northern cities that have been most recently assigned these targets.

If they choose to accept these targets, the assigned municipalities will have access to the province's new 'Building Faster Fund', which will reward municipalities that are on track to meet their 2031 housing targets.

At an Association of Municipalities of Ontario meeting on Monday, Doug Ford announced that those who meet the province's housing targets can receive money from the new three-year, $1.2-billion fund to pay for housing infrastructure.

The 'Building Faster Fund' program will provide $400-million in annual funding for municipalities that meet at least 80 percent of their annual housing target assigned by the province.

Performance will be determined by comparing a municipality's number of housing starts and additional residential units created in a year against their annual target.

Ten per cent of the overall funding will be allocated to small, rural and northern communities that have not yet been assigned a housing target by the province to "support unique needs and circumstances".

Our challenge is to find the labour force to actually build these housing units at the speed we need to build them at.​​​​​​- Paul Lefebvre, Mayor of Sudbury, Ont. 

With the strong mayor powers, a mayor or head of council can prepare the city's budget, hire certain department heads, and override council approval of certain by-laws if they interfere with provincial priorities.

To participate, heads of council must formally express their commitment in writing to Ontario's housing targets by October 15, 2023.

Municipalities would subsequently receive the strong mayor powers by the end of that month.

While most mayors welcome the funding, they say some steps taken by the province to speed housing creation don't address problems in the north.

The mayors of Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie are lukewarm about strong mayor powers and say they don't need enhanced authority to push through housing approvals on council. 

Matthew Shoemaker, Sault Ste Marie's mayor said the north has different challenges.

One of the challenges that is common across northern communities, he said, is the cost of building. 

"The cost per square foot that it takes to put a building up and the lower land value makes the economics of the project more difficult." 

The province wants Sault Ste. Marie to build 1500 units.

Sudbury's mayor Paul Lefebvre told CBC, he and council are working to attract investors and he is optimistic about meeting housing goals.

But, he said a shortage of skilled tradespeople poses a problem for the region. 

"Our challenge is to find the labour force to actually build these housing units at the speed we need to build them at."

Lefebvre added financial incentives are more than welcome, but he needs funding up front for provincial infrastructure before the city can allot permits.

His municipality's housing target is 3,800 homes.   

Strong mayor powers have also been offered to Thunder Bay, targeted to build 2,200 homes and North Bay, targeted to build 1,000 homes.

For Ken Boshcoff, Mayor of Thunder Bay, the message is straightforward, and his municipality is willing to participate in building new homes, as much as the construction industry can provide. 

"We've relied on private developers, but there's now the pressure on the city to extend the water line, to extend the services, to make sure that these homes get built,"

He added that although he was surprised by the news, he is glad Thunder Bay was called to the table. 

"It puts Thunder Bay on the same level as other cities in the province as opposed to being the poor cousin."