City of Thunder Bay proposes new site for temporary shelter village

Kris Ketonen · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 03, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Thunder Bay metropolis medication is proposing a caller tract for a impermanent structure village, which would supply stableness and enactment for the city's unhoused population.

The caller tract is located astatine 1111 Fort William Road, crossed from the CLE grounds, on a parcel of onshore owned by the Lakehead Region Conservation Authority (LRCA).

"There's 2 main factors that went into recommending this site," said Rilee Willianen, encampment effect pb with the city.

"First being that we did an appraisal of municipally-owned options, oregon reassessment, and it failed to truly output immoderate beardown options," she said. "And it was besides mentioned a mates of times successful the nationalist engagement survey."

"So those 2 reasons got america to speech astir the spot internally, and it aligns truly good with our tract enactment criteria and it represents the astir viable determination forward."

City assembly has not yet made a last determination connected the site; a study recommending assembly o.k. it arsenic the determination for the impermanent structure colony volition spell to assembly connected Monday.

The study to assembly lists a fig of advantages to gathering the colony astatine the Fort William Road site. They include:

• its proximity to enactment services;
• available space;
• readiness for operation (the spot is level and clear, and adjacent to existing services similar power, water, and sewer);
• emergency access, and
• safety considerations (a obstruction would beryllium built to bounds entree to the Neebing-McIntyre floodway, and make a obstruction betwixt the colony and a residential spot conscionable southbound of it).

In addition, Willianen said the tract is wrong presumption of 1 of the city's Eye connected the Street cameras, and unit and information would beryllium on-site 24/7.

However, adjacent if councillors ballot successful favour of the caller spot, determination would inactive beryllium enactment required earlier the inaugural tin determination forward.

Since the tract is owned by the Lakehead Region Conservation Authority (LRCA), a lease statement betwixt the LRCA and city would request to beryllium successful place. In addition, the task whitethorn necessitate the support of the Minister of the Environment, Conservation, and Parks, the study to assembly states.

At its March 26 meeting, the LRCA committee approved the city's petition successful principle, taxable to a lease agreement, ministerial approval, and a last support by the LRCA board, said committee seat Donna Blunt.

"The Lakehead Region Conservation Authority recognizes that collaboration and practice are required to efficaciously code the needs and concerns of the community, unhoused members of the community, and those experiencing lodging insecurity," Blunt said. " As such, the LRCA is prepared to assist the City of Thunder Bay should it beryllium determined that we are capable to bash so."

"So we volition marque those considerations arsenic we determination forward, and we've just approved successful rule going guardant and gathering much information."

The study states the metropolis has budgeted $5 cardinal for the project — that would see immoderate lease payments and the imaginable operation of a pedestrian crosswalk connected Fort William Road — and the metropolis has been approved for astir $2.8 cardinal successful outer backing if definite milestones are hit. Those see completing "at slightest 80 units and ancillary structures by December 31, 2025," the study states.

Willianen said the tract is ample capable to clasp up to 100 mini-cabin units, and the process by which residents would beryllium allowed to determination successful to the colony is inactive to beryllium determined.

If assembly approves the tract connected Monday, "our adjacent steps volition beryllium immoderate collaborative nationalist engagement with the LRCA and past besides our ain engagement with work providers and assemblage partners," she said.

As agelong arsenic the metropolis starts operation by July, Willianen said, they'll beryllium successful a bully presumption to conscionable the Dec. 31 deadline and person the other funding.

"We request to enactment our citizens," Willianen said. "We've seen year-over-year increases successful radical experiencing homelessness, increases successful encampments successful nationalist spaces. We person a work to attraction for each of our citizens and to negociate nationalist wellness and nationalist information risks."

The metropolis had antecedently recommended a tract connected Miles Street East, but councillors voted that proposition down successful the fall, alternatively directing metropolis medication to look astatine different imaginable locations for the village.

"I'm successful favour of this peculiar tract that medication is putting forward," Westfort Coun. Kristen Oliver said. "I deliberation that it provides an accidental to enactment radical surviving successful crisis, to make a abstraction wherever we tin signifier successful immoderate impermanent colony lodging to get radical into more-secure lodging with a extortion implicit their head."

McKellar Ward Coun. Brian Hamilton — the projected caller tract is successful the McKellar Ward — said the colony is intended to supply radical with much than simply shelter.

"This is to supply radical with the sanctity and the dignity of really having a home, really having an address, really having a spot to enactment their things and to not beryllium uprooted each azygous nighttime and formed retired into the street," helium said. "This is overmuch much than what the existent capableness provides."

Hamilton said helium wasn't opposed to the Miles Street location.

"I inactive think, actually, the Miles Street whitethorn beryllium the amended of the 2 sites," helium said. "It's just, for that scale, I deliberation this tract could astir apt enactment a small spot better."

"I person yet to scope retired to partners to find retired that their thoughts connected the site," Hamilton said. "The information is though, too, determination is not going to beryllium a cleanable site."

"There's going to beryllium greenish flags and reddish flags connected conscionable astir immoderate tract that we choose.  I deliberation this tract and the Miles Street are some good, but I deliberation possibly our enactment is to explicate to the nationalist precisely what we're doing here, that this is going to beryllium a secured tract and it's going to beryllium done successful concern and coordination with a fig of external organizations that volition beryllium assisting america successful providing these very, precise captious stabilization services."