Sudbury city councillors approve operational funding for transitional housing

Sudbury city council is moving ahead with a transitional housing plan, despite a lack of provincial funding. On Wednesday evening, city councillors voted in favour of spending $600,000 for operational costs in 2022. 

The city's plan for supportive transitional housing was first approved by council during 2021 budget deliberations. At that time, councillors approved a $2.2 million a year plan, with an $800,000 per year funding commitment. Their hope was that the city would be able to secure provincial funding to cover a significant portion of the operational expenses. 

"Although many, many efforts have been made on behalf of the Mayor and our staff of trying to negotiate and trying to reach out to the provincial government, they have been silent to date," said Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann, who has been working on the project along with Couns. Deb McIntosh and Fern Cormier. 

Councillors voted unanimously to allocate $600,000 in operational funding for 2022, of which $250,000 would come from anticipated savings related to technology improvements at Tom Davies Square. The remaining amount will be added to the 2022 tax levy. 

"$350,000 equals 0.1 per cent of a levy increase. $350,000 equals $2 per person per year," said McIntosh, as she urged her colleagues to support the motion. 

A number of councillors expressed frustration with the province not providing funding for the project. But ultimately they agreed it was important to move forward with it. 

We're still hopeful that [the province] will participate, seeing the need.— Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann

"This isn't about a garage, this isn't about buying a truck or a snow plow. This is about people. Living, breathing human beings that require assistance. I think we need to keep that into perspective," said Coun. René Lapierre. 

"We have to act, we have to put it in motion. Let's figure out who's going to pay for it later."

Temporary housing in 2022 

The funds needed for 2022 do not reflect the full operational cost of 40 transitional housing beds. Staff expect the facility to be complete in late 2022 or early 2023. In the meantime, the city plans to offer supportive transitional housing services for 20 people in a temporary location. 

"We wouldn't need the full cost of those services for 2022, given that we're only providing 20 units," said Tyler Campbell, the city's director of social services. 

Campbell said some staff have already been hired and the city plans to continue to hire and ramp up services throughout 2022, so the team "can hit the ground running" once the permanent facility is complete. 

The motion passed Wednesday evening also stipulates that the 2023 budget will include the remaining cost, resulting in a net levy impact $636,495, if no other funding materializes. 

"We're still hopeful that [the province] will participate, seeing the need … specifically in our municipality, given the high opioid overdoses and the situations that are happening daily," Landry-Altmann said. 

Councillors will continue to pore over the 2022 draft budget during their next finance committee meeting next Tuesday, as budget deliberations continue. As it stands now, the budget would result in a 3.2 per cent tax increase. Mayor and council hope to keep the increase to a maximum of 3 per cent. 

Transitional housing in Sault Ste. Marie

Sault Ste. Marie city council was also discussing transitional housing this week, after receiving a report showing that there are 150 more homeless people in the city than during the last count in 2018.

That report said there is an "urgent" need for as many as 60 transitional housing units, which would cost about $3 million to operate every year.

Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Christian Provenzano said some might balk at that "big pricetag" but says municipal investment is a good way to get federal and provincial governments "in line and on side."

"I think our ratepayers pay that anyway. They're paying for it in significant downstream expenses," said Provenzano, noting increased costs for police and social services.