Sault Ste. Marie city council looks to Barrie, Ont., for affordable housing inspiration

Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., is considering a new approach to tackling the city's affordable housing shortage.

The idea, which was brought up during the city's most recent council meeting, would be to offer a grant program to local faith and non-profit organizations that have underutilized spaces. An example would be an underutilized aging church whose congregation only meets once a week. 

The grant money would ideally help organizations to redevelop their aging buildings to include affordable housing units. 

"So it kind of fulfils this social justice mission of the church," said Luke Dufour, a Sault Ste. Marie city councillor. 

"It helps to continue the institutional legacy of the folks that built up the church and it provides it with a new financial model that ensures its sustainability with an aging population." 

While innovative, the grant program isn't a new idea. It's borrowed from Barrie's New Foundations program in southern Ontario. 

There, the city offers select property owners the chance to apply for financial support to do an affordable housing feasibility study. Each study in that city is estimated to cost about $20,000.

Dufour said Sault Ste. Maire city council hasn't determined a dollar amount should a similar program be implemented locally. 

City council has asked its affordable housing task force to consider the feasibility of implementing the program locally. 

Dufour said while the grant program wouldn't solve the city's housing crisis, it would help reduce financial barriers that non-profit organizations face in redeveloping their spaces, while making a small dent in the city's housing crisis. 

Another motion that was put forward at the city's last council meeting was about a vacant property tax. 

The motion, by Coun. Angela Caputo, would, if passed, deter people from leaving properties empty and boarded up around the city, as well as encourage owners to rent out their empty properties. 

"Driving around in Sault Ste. Marie, I'm seeing a lot of boarded up places," Caputo said.

"Around my restaurant, there are a number of homes that have been bought up by Toronto developers, you know, nothing wrong with the home — it should be rented or sold and yet it's just sitting empty while we have residents who can't find homes," she said.