Rather than pursue 'strong mayor' powers afforded to him by the province, Mayor Paul Lefebvre said he’ll continue working with his colleagues on city council to achieve housing goals.
“I don’t have any intention of using it,” Lefebvre told Sudbury.com. “I want to be driving consensus and certainly collaboration ... so I have no intention of going down that path.”
Lefebvre spoke to Sudbury.com by phone from the Association of Municipalities Ontario annual general meeting in London, where Premier Doug Ford announced the expanded powers.
Strong mayor powers allow heads of council greater authority to make decisions, as long as they’re dealing with provincial priorities such as getting more housing built. Only needing one-third city council support, those with strong mayor powers can set budgets, as well as veto and pass bylaws.
Lefebvre said there’s a shared belief among the city’s elected officials that there is a “housing crisis” in Greater Sudbury. “Transitional housing to traditional bungalows, we need more.”
Also included in yesterday’s announcement from the province was a series of provincially set housing targets for various Ontario municipalities. Greater Sudbury’s target was set at 3,800 units by 2031, which Lefebvre said he is “optimistic” they will be able to achieve.
Encompassing nine years, the target breaks down to an average of approximately 422 units per year. Last year, the city reported that 457 new housing units were built in Greater Sudbury.
The province has pledged $1.2 billion toward incentivizing municipalities to achieve their housing targets, with Greater Sudbury slated to receive more than $100,000 per year over three years for meeting annual targets.
There are various efforts taking place at Tom Davies Square to see to it that more housing gets built, Lefebvre said, both at the forefront of city council operations and in the background.
At the forefront has been the city’s development of a Housing Supply Strategy, which is expected to be finalized by the end of next year. So far this year, it has resulted in the release of such reports as the Housing Supply and Demand Analysis and the Population Projections Report, which have added context to the city’s housing woes.
As it stands, the city currently needs 470 rental units in order to reach five-per-cent vacancy (the rate is currently 1.6 per cent), with an even greater reported need for affordable housing units.
As of September 2022, the City of Greater Sudbury’s subsidized housing waitlist included 845 households, approximately 12 per cent of which were priority and urgent applicants.
Last week, Lefebvre tabled a successful motion for city staff to develop a tax incentive program to help spur the construction of multi-unit residential buildings in strategic core areas of the city.
Although this motion makes no mention of affordable housing, Lefebvre clarified to Sudbury.com that it’s one of many actions being undertaken, with each effort carrying complementary goals.
“We’ve been hit with this avalanche of demand in the last few years, and the supply wasn’t there,” he said. “Therefore, the prices have skyrocketed. ... The more supply we create on the market side, that gives opportunities to reduce the burden and the cost because there will be more competition.”
The Housing Supply and Demand Analysis notes that developers have been focusing on upper-end homebuyers for new housing supply, which has driven up the cost of older, more affordable units for which there’s strong demand.
The city already has the Affordable Housing Community Improvement Plan, Lefebvre said, which offers such things as tax incentives and a per-door grant of up to $20,000 per unit (up to $200,000 per property) to develop affordable housing units.
“We’re going to be reviewing that as well,” Lefebvre said, adding that the prevailing question will remain: “What can we do to create more affordable opportunities in our community?”
This is one of many topics also covered by the newly formed Future-Ready Development Services Committee of city council, which connects the city’s elected officials with industry insiders to determine the “best way of streamlining and of encouraging investment in Sudbury.”
In Monday’s media release, Ford cites the municipal housing targets as a means of tackling the “affordability crisis.”
It’s unclear how it will help spur the construction of affordable housing, since developers have a track record of centring their efforts on upper-end residential builds.
Sudbury.com reached out to the province for comment on what is being done on the affordable housing front, but did not receive a response in time for today’s deadline.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
