Lambton politicians back call for affordable housing helper, seed money

Lambton County politicians have backed a call for a temporary co-ordinator and “seed funding” to help new affordable housing projects move along.

The proposal from Lambton’s social services division, endorsed this week by a county council committee, follows council’s July declaration that affordable housing and shelter its No. 1 priority.

If council approves at its September meeting, plans are to hire a co-ordinator under a temporary contract for 18 months to two years, staff told the committee Wednesday.

“Given the urgency of the housing crisis and the number of projects we want to work on, we really need to have a dedicated resource for this,” said Valerie Colasanti, Lambton’s social services general manager.

“We believe we’ll need the position for approximately 18 months,” she said. “We’re looking at getting a number of projects to be shovel-ready.”

The co-ordinator would focus on promoting affordable housing and working with community partners interested in new developments but lacking resources to move them along, the department said in a report.

The co-ordinator also would help community partners seek funding, including from other levels of government, to build projects and cover operating costs for supportive housing.

The proposal also calls for the county to create a seed funding program to support local affordable housing initiatives by non-profit agencies by helping pay for such things as feasibility studies, surveys, planning fees and environmental assessments.

The fund would provide as much as $200,000 a project to a maximum of $500,000 a year.

Together, the fund and temporary project co-ordinator are expected to cost $650,000 annually.

The department said it has applied to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.’s Housing Accelerator Fund for several initiatives, including the seed funding program and temporary co-ordinator post.

If that fails, the department said it will seek provincial funding and use the county’s affordable housing reserves to cover the costs.

According to an affordable housing update from the department, 345 households are experiencing homelessness and a 2021 report found more than 3,500 Lambton households were renting and living in “unsuitable, inadequate or unaffordable” housing.

In recent months, a community group formed by several Rotary Club of Sarnia members has been working to bring affordable, supportive housing projects to the Sarnia area.

The county council committee also this week endorsed a social services division request to make permanent two temporary community homelessness outreach worker positions created in 2022.

The cost would continue to be covered by provincial and federal homelessness prevention funding, the department said.

“We’re seeing great success with this team,” Colasanti said.

“They’ve assisted with over 111 individuals,” who moved from homelessness to permanent housing, she said. “Forty of those individuals were moved directly from the street, from living rough, into housing.”

“The numbers may appear to be low, but I think they are actually very strong,” she said. “We think it’s important to make those roles permanent.”

County council will consider the proposal at next month’s meeting.

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