A fund created in 2023 by the Sarnia Community Foundation to help address the local need for affordable and supportive housing has been attracting donations.
A fund created in 2023 by the Sarnia Community Foundation to help address the local need for affordable and supportive housing has been attracting donations.
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“We’re just approaching almost $100,000, so there is definitely traction,” executive director Mike Barron said.
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The fund is “good news for residents and supporters who are deeply concerned for those who are homeless or living in very poor conditions,” he said.
The foundation’s action follows work by a group of community members to create new supportive housing in the community that has seen a rise in recent years in homelessness and individuals struggling to maintain housing.
That includes an effort led by Rotary Club of Sarnia members John DeGroot, Heather Martin and Michael John Kooy, Barron said.
“Donations to the fund will go a long way to achieving new affordable and supportive housing,” Kooy said in a news release.
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“Our group of Rotarians has been actively engaging with the city, the county, Queen’s Park, and Ottawa and we’re also co-ordinating our efforts with all the agencies in Sarnia that have anything to do with housing for the many folks who are living rough,” he said.
The foundation is “ready to play an active role in fundraising and supporting any effort to address the need,” Barron said.
That includes helping with fundraising if an affordable project requires local funding to match government contributions, he said.
“That’s what our foundation’s role is, to try and make the community better.”
Established 40 years ago, the Sarnia Community Foundation now has more than $10 million in assets invested with proceeds given annually to local organizations.
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Barron said he has been consulting with other foundations, including the Hamilton Community Foundation that has been working on the issue there.
“We’re actually going to bring the executive director from Hamilton down to speak to our board, and to speak to the Rotary” group, he said.
Barron said he’s optimistic there will be progress locally on affordable housing in the coming year.
“We expect that early next year a site will be identified for supportive housing, after which we will embark on a major fundraising campaign,” DeGroot said in the release.
DeGroot said there are still tickets available for a Poison Ivy Murder Mystery fundraiser for affordable housing set for Feb. 9 at DeGroot’s Nurseries in Sarnia. Ticket information is available online at degroots.ca/events.
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Officials with Lambton County, which provides social housing locally, have also been working to develop new affordable housing projects. County council voted in 2023 to make affordable housing and shelter its top priority.
Lambton is working with a consulting company to assess potential sites for affordable or supportive housing, including part of Sarnia’s Victoria Street parking lot, open space at a county social housing site on Kathleen Avenue and two others not identified.
The consultant’s findings are expected to be reported to county council in April.
Lambton has also set aside $500,000 a year in “seed money” for local affordable housing initiatives by non-profit agencies to help with feasibility studies, surveys, planning fees and other preliminary work.
County officials have said there’s a need locally for supportive housing that combines affordable apartments with services, such as health care, mental health support and addictions counseling, to help residents maintain housing.
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