City staff have been greenlit to proceed with the purchase of 307 Cedar St. in Downtown Sudbury, which is slated to be used as an emergency shelter and/or transitional housing.
The city’s elected officials were unanimous in their decision at Tuesday’s meeting, minus Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée, who was not present.
Though it wasn’t discussed beyond voting on its associated bylaw, Sudbury.com connected with Mayor Paul Lefebvre after the meeting to explain the purchase.
“This adds to our support for homelessness,” he said, adding that it’s expected to serve as shelter space, but that “It’s also zoned for transitional housing down the road.”
“It’s adding to our portfolio of shelter space, and it’s already zoned for that so will continue in that direction.”
The fact this property was already zoned for its future use was a “big factor” in the city’s purchase, he said, noting that it has served as a shelter in the past.
Until 2020, it served as the Foyer Notre Dame youth shelter.
The city plans on working with the Elizabeth Fry Society to run the centre, which also runs the Safe Harbor House 10-bed shelter for homeless women and gender-diverse people aged 19 and older on Kingsmount Boulevard.
That is, if the sale goes through. The direction city council provided staff on Tuesday was to proceed with the property’s purchase, which has not yet been finalized.
If finalized, the facility would be funded by the city.
“We’re always open to have supports from the province, but we’re going to move ahead,” he said.
Lefebvre said this is part of the city’s $350-million plan to bring a functional end to homelessness by 2030, and that other components would be discussed during 2025 budget deliberations later this year.
Sudbury.com wrote about the city’s potential purchase of 307 Cedar St. last week, when the city posted an associated bylaw on their website in error before city council had discussed it in closed session.
The building is owned by Association des Jeunes de la Rue and currently houses some Homelessness Network operations, with six red coat outreach team members using the building as a base of operations.
It’s too much building for them, co-ordinator Raymond Landry told Sudbury.com, and has been underutilized since the Foyer Notre Dame youth shelter closed in 2020.
“There’s too much space here to be used by our small team and we know it could be of greater use to the community as a whole if the right group would purchase it for extended services,” he said. “We’re looking for a smaller office space for the Homelessness Network and outreach, and hoping that the city or any future purchaser will use it fully.”
An emergency shelter or transitional housing would be an ideal use for the building, he said, adding that far more of these services are drastically needed in Greater Sudbury, where homelessness has reached record levels.
Meanwhile, a 40-unit transitional housing complex on Lorraine Street is expected to open soon.
During last week’s community and emergency services committee meeting of city council, the city’s elected officials unanimously greenlit a warming centre expansion effort.
This effort, which was ratified by city council as a whole on Tuesday, includes approving an increase in daytime, weekend and overnight drop-in hours at the Samaritan Centre to accommodate up to 25 people from Oct. 1 to April 30, and repurposing The Spot (the city’s closed supervised consumption site at 24 Energy Court) for use as an overnight warming shelter for up to 50 people.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
