President of Northern Linkage, the not-for-profit that owns the building, says housing ‘critical’
The site of a former community garden in Thunder Bay, Ont., will soon be host to a new affordable housing facility and the head of the organization that owns it says the city is in need of more.
Northern Linkage, a not-for-profit that runs a number of group homes and other affordable housing spaces in the northwestern Ontario city, will run the building, which is located at the corner of Algoma Street and Cornwall Avenue on the city’s north side.
“This building is going to be for people that just don’t have enough money to have safe, affordable housing,” said Reg Wilson, the president of Northern Linkage, adding that the apartments will be rent-geared-to-income units.
The project is funded by the federal and provincial governments, Wilson said, with the Thunder Bay District Social Services Administration Board administering the money. The cost of the building is over $4 million.
Northern Linkage runs a number of group homes in the city for people with psychiatric disabilities, which are staffed by St. Joseph’s Care Group, he said. The Algoma Street build is a more general affordable housing facility; extra care and support for tenants who require it will be provided in-home by agencies in the community.
The building’s tenants will come from a list maintained by the DSSAB of people seeking affordable housing. Wilson said there continues to be a lot of people in that situation, meaning the city needs more homes for residents living on low incomes.
“I see increasing demand, increasing requests for service,” Wilson said. “There’s never enough people to service the people with mental health requirements.”
Also, he continued, Thunder Bay “happens to be the catchment area for all of northwestern Ontario, so people come in and we might see somebody from Dryden, then you’ll see somebody from Kenora … so this continues and continues and continues.”
“Housing is critical.”
Thunder Bay shelter use grows, as affordable housing list shrinks
With the population aging, Wilson said he expects that trend to continue. Despite a drop about three years ago in the number of people on the DSSAB’s wait list — some of which was purely clerical — demand for affordable housing for single individuals continued to remain high.
The Algoma Street facility is all single-bedroom units, Wilson said.
Location, location, location
Wilson said his organization bought the “prime location” land for the build when it became available, he said, adding that its proximity to the Bay and Algoma and downtown north core areas means tenants will have access to many services.
Those include banking, health care, grocery shopping, as well as amenities like restaurants and entertainment.
As of late June, contractors were finishing up work on the building, including landscaping the property.
Wilson said tenants will likely start moving in sometime in August.
