It's hoped that federal and provincial funding can be secured but even so, Lambton County staff are recommending that council proceed with a proposed affordable housing project on Kathleen Avenue in Sarnia.
A report detailing the status of the 30 to 50-unit project was received during a committee meeting held on Wednesday.
Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley voiced concerns about the concentration of social housing in the city.
"Kathleen [Avenue] is probably the epicenter of all the social housing in the city," said Bradley.
General Manager of Social Services Valerie Colasanti said the Kathleen Avenue location was chosen above other potential sites because it was the closest to being "shovel ready."
"Our recommendation is to move forward with this project because it is the closest to shovel-ready and there is funding available now," she said. "We heard that there was new funding announced [Tuesday] in the federal budget but if we don't have a shovel-ready project, we won't be able to receive any of those dollars."
As to what constitutes shovel-ready, in this case, Colasanti said the property is already owned by the county and a Request for Proposal has already been issued.
"The other properties that are noted in the report, some of them aren't owned yet by the county so there's some work to be done there, we need to look at zoning, we need to look at probably some significant environmental studies so there's quite a bit of work to do on any of the other projects at this time," she said.
As specified in the report, staff are recommending that council move ahead with the intention of building 50 units at the reported capital cost of approximately $16.5 million.
If the county were to move ahead with the project as is, it would assume an additional debt of $7.6 million, which is within the authorized total debt limits prescribed by the province.
Aside from costs associated with construction, the proposed project would need to account for ongoing operating costs.
Taking into account the preliminary staffing and debt servicing costs, budget expenses are estimated at $1.1 million per year, representing an approximate 1.2 per cent impact on the 2025 levy.
However, county staff plan to seek other funding opportunities through different levels of government.
The Kathleen Avenue project was not selected to receive provincial funding through the Canada-Ontario Community Housing Initiative (COCHI) for 2023/2024 but was successful in 2024/2025 in receiving $1.1 million.
Meanwhile, an affordable housing update was included in a separate report received.
The county was advised on February 29 that it did not qualify to receive federal grant funding under the Housing Accelerator Fund, applied for in July 2023. The funding would have advanced eight initiatives.
Regardless, work continues to increase the affordable housing supply through various previously endorsed projects, including the proposed Kathleen Avenue development.
Other projects listed in the report included the ongoing construction of 24 units at 993 Maxwell Street, and the expected construction (to begin in May) of an additional 40 rent-geared-to-income units at 940 Confederation Street by Ontario Aboriginal Housing.
Affordable housing was declared a top priority in the County of Lambton in July 2023.