THUNDER BAY — Construction began on 256 new homes last year, fantastic news if you ask Summer Stevenson, project manager for the city's housing accelerator fund.
"We smashed it out of the water," said Stevenson. "We're over 100 per cent of our target (for housing starts)."
With 256 new homes started last year, the city far exceeded the target of 187 housing starts, set by the province, said Stevenson.
This year, she expects the provincial target will be in the 200 range but said internally, the city is setting it's sights quite a bit higher.
Stevenson wants to see 350 new homes started in 2025.
"We know we need 350 housing starts a year to close our housing gap and ensure that there's enough homes for people in Thunder Bay, and meet our targets for high growth.
"That is the number that we're focusing on, that's the number that we want to get to.” she said.
“Thunder Bay is all about growth right now and we need to make sure that we're ready for that growth. This is a really great sign for the years to come.
"We have a lot of confidence that next year will be another very busy year based on the conversations that building services has been having pre-permit inquiries and then also based on the results of the housing accelerator fund.
"We've had a really high uptake, we are about to approve 59 projects, that will result in close to 500 units,” she said.
“It's really exciting to see all this momentum as we generate excitement about building Thunder Bay and we are really looking forward to working with everybody in 2025 who is looking to help Thunder Bay meet that ambitious target of 350 housing starts a year,” she said.
Over the past several years, the city has seen a drop in the number of single-family houses, and a shift towards more multi-unit residential buildings.
It has been exciting to see the number of multi-unit projects increase, Stevenson said.
“When we talk about multi-unit housing starts, it's anywhere from a duplex to a 72-unit apartment building. There is a lot of variety in there which provides more opportunities for folks looking to break into the housing market, more opportunities for folks looking to downsize. We see this as a good thing.
“We are looking forward to continuing to promote that housing variety as we move forward with our housing accelerator fund programs,” she said.
Multi-unit buildings are key to meeting the city's high internal target, said Stevenson.
“If we look at our housing accelerator fund, the incentives are available for multi-unit buildings. They're not there for the single detached homes and that's mainly because we know that when we have (a target of) 350 homes that we're trying to get to, the multi-unit housing gets us a lot closer. Another thing to consider is the land that's available and ready to be developed.
“For us, what we're looking at is how do we increase our densification of our city. That means more units on the existing infrastructure that we have, because we know that that's going to help with our infrastructure deficit. That's what our main focus is on at this time with our current programs,” she said.
The housing accelerator fund dispersed just over $8 million in 2024, said Stevenson. She said applications for 2025 should reopen in the spring.
