'It costs the taxpayer $1M per year to do nothing': Province plans to repurpose former St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital grounds

The Ontario government is setting aside $100 million to repurpose surplus sites like the former St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital grounds.

The Ontario government is setting aside $100 million to repurpose surplus sites like the former St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital grounds.

In the March 26 provincial budget announcement, the Site Preparation Pilot Program was announced.

“It costs the province, costs the taxpayers close to a million dollars a year just to have it sit there and do really nothing,” said Rob Flack, Elgin-Middlesex London MPP. “It's time that these sites such as the St. Thomas hospital lands are repurposed and I would get my vote towards housing and hopefully that's what Infrastructure Ontario decides to do.”

Other than a few Hollywood films that have used the location over the past few years, the site has been vacant for more than a decade.

“It's probably been 13 years since at least one part of it has been used,” said Steve Peters, former MPP and local historian. “There's parts of that hospital that haven't seen any activity since 1984.”

Peters said that the property was once an economic driver for the community.

“The Psychiatric Hospital opened in 1939, and then through during the Second World War, over 60,000 air personnel pass through there,” added Peters. “Over the years, it was a 2,200 bed hospital. So it's been an important part of the local economy and certainly since the hospitals closed, you know, we've just seen the empty buildings and vacant land.”