Sault Ste. Marie also exceeds 2023 housing targets
Following a stop in Greater Sudbury on Friday, Rob Flack, Ontario’s Associate Minister of Housing, also made the trip to Sault Ste. Marie.
Ontario’s Associate Minister of Housing Rob Flack presented the City of Sault Ste. Marie with a cheque for $600,000 to invest in housing and infrastructure. April 5, 2024. (X/Rob Flack)
Flack presented the city with a cheque for $600,000 to invest in housing and infrastructure.
The Sault broke ground on 213 new housing units last year – exceeding its target by 194 per cent.
Sault Mayor Matthew Shoemaker along with the rest of city council said they will do what they can to keep up the momentum.
Shoemaker said the $600,000 in provincial funding is a testament to the city’s busy building season last year and that he anticipates more progress this year.
“Just last council meeting, we approved the biggest change to the zoning bylaw since it was implemented in the late 60s,” he said.
“(This) will allow multiple units on basically any property to help densify the city and help use the existing services to serve more people.”
The provincial funding will be used to build or upgrade supporting infrastructure, such as increasing sewer and water capacity.
Sault MPP Ross Romano said that the city is on the right track with housing development.
“We’re building here in Sault Ste. Marie and that’s a good thing,” said Romano.
“Obviously, we want to see more housing starts, we want to see more housing finishes.”
The MPP added that for the Sault community to be ahead of the game in this regard is positive.
“We wanted, as a government, to ensure that we rewarded that type of behaviour with extra funding,” said Romano.
“So $600,000 for the City of Sault Ste. Marie is a very good thing.”
The city still has to submit a plan to the province on how it intends to use the funding but Shoemaker told CTV News that he anticipates it will be used to facilitate housing starts on under-serviced land.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Police clear pro-Palestinian protesters from Columbia University while clashes break out at UCLA
The pro-Palestinian demonstration that paralyzed Columbia University ended in dramatic fashion, with police carrying riot shields bursting into a building that protesters took over the previous night and making dozens of arrests. On the other side of the country, clashes broke out early Wednesday between duelling groups at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Poilievre kicked out of Commons after calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 'wacko'
Testy exchanges between the prime minister and his chief opponent ended with the Opposition leader and one of his MPs being ejected from the House of Commons on Tuesday -- and the rest of Conservative caucus walking out of the chamber in protest.
WATCH Moose strolls through Fredericton
A Fredericton woman is awe-struck after seeing a moose stroll down a city street on Tuesday.
Baby, grandparents among 4 people killed in wrong-way police chase on Ontario's Hwy. 401
A police chase which started with a liquor store robbery in Bowmanville Monday night ended in tragedy some 20 minutes later when a suspect fleeing police entered Highway 401 in the wrong direction and caused a pileup which killed an infant and the child's grandparents, as well as the suspect, investigators say.
WATCH Arnold Schwarzenegger spotted filming in Elora, Ont.
The name of the project has not been officially released although it’s widely believed to be the Netflix series FUBAR.
Freeland leaves capital gains tax change out of coming budget implementation bill, here's why
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling yet another omnibus bill to pass a sweeping range of measures promised in her April 16 federal budget, though left out of the legislation will be the government's proposed capital gains tax change.
Sword-wielding man attacks passersby in London, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring 4 others
A man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and police officers in a northeast London suburb Tuesday, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring four other people, British authorities said.
Man dies after suffering cardiac arrest while waiting in ER, widow wants investigation
When an ambulance took David Lippert to the hospital in March of 2023, the 68-year-old Kitchener, Ont., executive was hoping to find out why he was feeling weak and unable to walk. Some 24 hours later, he was found unresponsive in the ER.
CSE says it shared information on Chinese hacking of parliamentarians in 2022
While several MPs and senators say they were only recently made aware of China-backed hackers targeting them, the Communications Security Establishment, one of Canada's intelligence agencies, says it shared information about the incident with parliamentary officials in June of 2022.