Ontario Construction News staff writer
The City of Greater Sudbury presented a draft housing supply strategy at a public meeting Feb. 22.
The same strategy, with 17 focus areas, was presented to council in January and sets a path to achieve Greater Sudbury’s housing target for the next 10 years, fill key gaps in the housing supply and ensure residents have access to housing options “at all stages of life” regardless of income level.
In early 2023, council directed staff to develop a Housing Supply Strategy to outline the actions required to increase the local housing supply. Along with the Municipal Housing Pledge approved by Council in December – describing strategies and actions to achieve Greater Sudbury’s assigned municipal housing target of 3,800 new homes by 2031
The draft strategy recognizes the important role for-profit contractors play to increase housing supply.
“While the City of Greater Sudbury plays an important leadership role in this process, it is a relatively small contributor to housing supply, and many elements of housing production are beyond its control,” staff stated in the report. “For example, labour and material shortages and higher financing rates can increase construction costs, making development unfeasible.
“Likewise, higher borrowing costs reduce ownership demand and push would-be purchasers into the rental market.”
To be successful, the strategy must include “many equally important contributors” to housing production.
“For-profit developers represent by far the greatest contributor to the housing continuum in terms of unit production while not-for-profit organizations and co-operatives are responsible for fostering housing opportunities in the form of community and affordable housing projects.”
The deadline to submit comments on the proposed plan has been extended to March 8, 2024 to provide additional opportunities for comment following the information session.
To learn more about the draft strategy and provide feedback, visit www.overtoyou.greatersudbury.ca/housing-supply-strategy.