City council gains additional time to make decision on Temporary Shelter Village
Thunder Bay has a little more wiggle room to make a final decision on the home for the city’s Temporary Shelter Village Initiative.
The Hillyard Site has been selected to host the village, but city council is set to re-debate the location on September 16.
During Tuesday night’s council meeting, City Manager John Collin highlighted that the city has more time than they previously thought before shovels have to be in the ground.
To meet the current deadlines to receive the grant, at least 40 units must be ready to start accepting occupants by December 15, 2025, and the remaining units must be fully operational by February 27, 2026.
“We have been pursuing or exploring whether or not another extension on the funding of the $2.8 million would be possible from the province because just the act of pressing pause on all this has put that timeline very much at risk,” said Collin.
“I have received confirmation through our Member of Provincial Parliament, the Honourable Kevin Holland, that he and the minister of municipal affairs and housing believe that if we put forward a reasonable request for an extension to our timelines, the minister of municipal affairs and housing has confirmed that it will be granted.”
At the next city council meeting, a final decision should be made on the host location.
If city council votes against the motion, the status quo will remain and the Hillyard Site will host the village.
If council votes yes, the Hillyard Site would be scrapped as the host location, and city council would be tasked with deciding whether to refer the matter back to city administration to explore additional sites.
The decision to move on from the Hillyard Site would also eliminate additional sites previously looked at, including Cumberland, Miles St. and Kam River Park, from being rebated at a later point.
“One thing I know as a business owner or any stakeholder is that there is high levels of anxiety with this file,” McKellar Ward Councillor Brian Hamilton. “The community wants to see black or white where we are, and I think two weeks more is just two weeks more of anxiety.”
“We are really failing a community here that we’re not really talking about, and we’re failing the community at large as well by not, you know, quote unquote putting this to bed. I’d really like to come to a conclusion. Homeowners and businesses certainly need that certainty to be able to thrive and survive in this climate.”
More than 100 of Thunder Bay’s Intercity businesses and healthcare facilities, known as the Intercity Business Collective (IBC), are asking the city to reassess the Hillyard Site.
The group backs Councillor Zussino’s motion to rescind approval of the location.
