Terrace Bay struggles with housing shortage
Restart of Terrace Bay mill doubles housing prices, creates demand for high-end homes
Terrace Bay is looking to attract developers as it grapples with a housing crunch.
The re-opening of Terrace Bay Pulp has caused a spike in the local housing market and town CAO Carmelo Notarbartolo says the shortage makes it hard for the mill to fill some positions.
"There's only about a handful of homes for sale, but the homes are not high-end homes," he said.
"The type of employees they're trying to bring, they're looking for mid-to-high end homes, and there's just none available right now."
Chris Joubert, a realtor who works in several north shore communities, said the cost of a one-and-a-half story house has more than doubled in the past year.
"Those homes had dropped down to anywhere from $15,000 to $30,000. Now, you're seeing the prices back up anywhere from $40,000 to $70,000.
Even with the housing demand, there are still enough available homes on the market, he noted.
Working on solutions
But the town’s administration doesn't agree and wants to attract private developers to build new and larger houses.
Mayor Michael King said there are few places available to rent or buy.
"It's a really interesting problem for us to have," he said.
"We haven't had a problem like this since I've been mayor — and that's 15 years. It's not … been common for Terrace Bay to have a housing shortage."
Notarbartolo said there are about 15 lots scattered around town in residential areas that are ready to be developed, as they have road, water and sewer access.
There's also a section of land in town that the former mill owners are selling — a place where a subdivision could be built.
Terrace Bay is still in the early stages of considering private sector help with development, and administration said it wants to speak with more contractors in Thunder Bay, as well as mill owners, the Aditya-Birla Group.
"[The municipality doesn’t] have the money to do a project like this, and it's really not normal in Ontario for a municipality to take over such a thing and do it," Notarbartolo said.
"The town will work with [developers] … and support them however we can. But we don't want to be the lead on this."
Notarbartolo noted administration is working on possible solutions, and will deliver those to council sometime in the new year.