'There's definitely demand': How homes without basements, stairs could ease northern Ontario housing crisis

Erik White · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 03, 2025 5:23 AM EST | Last Updated: March 3

This communicative is portion of a peculiar Housing North bid looking astatine the marketplace successful northeastern Ontario.

Even with a ungraded trench moving down the hallway, and exposed wires and pipes hanging from the ceiling, it inactive benignant of looks similar an simple school.

But by the clip Peter Nault and his crews are done with the aged St. Bernadette schoolhouse successful Sudbury, helium doesn't deliberation immoderate of the erstwhile unit and students volition admit it.

One of the large reasons for that is Nault is removing each the communal areas from the schoolhouse successful the New Sudbury neighbourhood and converting it into 20 rental units that are slab-on-grade, meaning determination is nary basement underneath.

That volition beryllium followed by caller operation successful the aged schoolyard, with 27 much slab-on-grade units with abstracted first- and second-storey apartments successful each, making for a full of 74 residences connected the aged schoolhouse property.

Nault said that volition bring his portfolio of rental units successful Greater Sudbury up to astir 300, overmuch of those slab-on-grade construction, which is proving fashionable with seniors looking to downsize to a one-level home but inactive person 2 bedrooms, immoderate extracurricular abstraction and retention room.

"There's a batch of worldly they don't privation to portion with," helium said, adding determination is simply a waiting database for the rental units and helium regularly gets calls from seniors readying a aboriginal move.

"There's decidedly demand. Lots of interest."

Despite that, Nault, who besides has a operation company, Northern Home Builders, worries determination could beryllium a "major affect" connected the section rental marketplace if the U.S. carries done connected tariff threats, driving up the outgo of surviving adjacent higher.

"So for me, arsenic a developer, it's benignant of a risky project, due to the fact that we're putting successful 74 units that we request to fill, successful bid to screen the cost," helium said. 

"And if radical can't spend the cost, there's going to beryllium conflicting numbers there."

Nault said most of his slab-on-grade rental units scope betwixt $1,700 and $2,800 a month, and helium collects those payments implicit a 40- oregon 50-year owe to support the terms "within a scope of what idiosyncratic tin afford."

"If we did this connected a 25-year term, the rents would beryllium retired of reach," helium said.

"Contrary to what radical think, the nett astatine the extremity of the time is precise minimal connected a task this size to support the rents astatine a tenable amount."

Belmar Builders is different Sudbury developer that has been putting up much slab-on-grade units successful caller years, and manager Tim McDonald says they are proving "very popular."

That includes gathering respective duplexes with crawl spaces successful Hanmer each twelvemonth that spell for betwixt $500,000 and $550,000, arsenic good arsenic single-family homes successful Sudbury proper, including 1 successful the southbound extremity that's listed for $898,000.

"There's obscurity for seniors to spell immoderate more," helium said.

"We got immoderate radical who privation to rent them. We person immoderate radical that are renting present that besides privation to bargain from us. It's precise good."