A town north of Timmins is thinking outside the box in an attempt to encourage people to live and work there.
In an effort to attract new residents, the town of Smooth Rock Falls is offering housing lots for as little as $500.
It's all part of the town's 20-year community improvement plan aimed at revitalization after the Tembec Mill closed in 2006.
Michel Arseneault is the Mayor of Smooth Rock Falls.
“We know of a few communities that have done something a little bit like what we have done, but not to the extent that we have done. I think we were in a unique position where we were in a kind of dire straits position where we lost quite a bit of our population.” said Arsenault.
Town officials say the first year of the initiative brought two dozen new families to the area.
Luc Denault is the Chief Administrative Officerof Smooth Rock Falls.
“We're very pleased with the results, and when we took time this year to assess some of the results, we're actually very surprised. Not only at the amount of inquiries that came, but the people that moved to Smooth Rock Falls.” said Denault.
And it took quite a bit of work to get the word out.
“We were actually quite surprised with the results. We reached actually over 27 million people. We did over 200 interviews: radio, TV or articles in newspapers. We had over 2,000 enquires: emails, texts, phone calls, about what we had to offer and how could we do this.” said Denault.
Including newcomers, officials say 43 residential properties changed hands in Smooth Rock Falls over the past year. 12 residential and 10 commercial properties are now listed to attract more people and businesses to the town.
