Thunder Bay city staff recommend Miles Street East as temporary shelter village site, again

Kris Ketonen · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 09, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

Thunder Bay's impermanent structure colony whitethorn beryllium built connected Miles Street East aft all.

City medication is recommending councillors o.k. the determination connected Monday.

The aforesaid tract was antecedently considered by councillors, who voted it down successful the fall. They aboriginal approved Kam River Heritage Park arsenic the determination for the village, which would see sleeping cabins for usage by the city's unhoused population.

However, information concerns astatine Kam River park — namely that the colony would beryllium bordered by the Kaministiquia River connected 1 broadside and a obstruction gait connected the other — led councillors to rescind that decision. Administrators were past tasked with making different recommendation at a caller meeting.

"It's important to enactment that astir each assemblage that is having these conversations, that are trying to physique and conception these initiatives, is having a situation uncovering a location," said Coun. Brian Hamilton, who represents the McKellar Ward in which the Miles Street East tract is located.

"This is precise difficult," helium said. "It's got a batch of governmental and affectional angles, and a precocious grade of nationalist involvement … so, we're backmost astatine the spot which was arguably possibly the champion spot."

The metropolis has budgeted $5 cardinal for the project, but has said it would beryllium eligible for $2.8 cardinal successful provincial backing if definite timelines are met, including the completion of "at slightest 80 units and ancillary structures by Dec. 31, 2025."

However, successful bid to conscionable those timelines, operation would request to commencement by the extremity of July. Monday's gathering is 1 of lone 2 assembly meetings taking spot this month.

Hamilton said helium didn't enactment the Miles Street determination successful the autumn implicit concerns astir its size.

"I felt similar it couldn't accommodate the 80 to 100 units that were projected for that site," helium said. "I thought that was a spot ambitious."

"However, fixed immoderate of the information, I'm not definite the state is going to request that we person afloat occupancy each twelvemonth round," Hamilton said.

In addition, helium said the metropolis present owns onshore adjacent to the site.

"What's important to maine is to make a tract that radical privation to unrecorded [in]," Hamilton said. "The past happening I privation to bash is is make immoderate benignant of bunker benignant of strategy wherever radical don't person cardinal things that … each 1 of america instrumentality for granted, like a modicum of privacy, a small spot of abstraction to park a bicycle, or to person a tiny country that 1 mightiness see a spot of a yard."

"I deliberation the abstraction is determination to bash what we'd similar to do," helium said. "It's benignant of the marque oregon interruption moment. I don't deliberation medication is going to travel backmost with immoderate different option, and truthful it's bash the task oregon not."

Other concerns raised successful the autumn were astir information and information for country residents and businesses. In Monday's resolution, the metropolis included "a recurring fiscal contribution, reviewed annually, of $125,000 beryllium included successful the 2026 Fort William Business Improvement Association (BIA) Budget to enactment their revitalization efforts and code concerns related to information and cleanliness."

Hamilton said that measure, if approved, would beryllium helpful.

"But what I person discovered, and what I deliberation is accelerated becoming the champion practice, is that it's important to person a assemblage liaison committee which would beryllium made up of concern owners, stakeholders, perchance metropolis assembly representatives and neighbours," helium said. "That's going to beryllium a captious portion successful making definite that operationally, this installation tin beryllium integrated into the wider community."

"That's the astir important happening there. There has to beryllium immoderate constituent of neighbourhood cohesion."