After an almost two-month pause in work, the transitional housing complex on Lorraine Street is moving forward with Flex Modular as the project’s new general contractor.
The Dundalk-based company has been upgraded from its previous subcontractor role, under which they’ve been constructing modular units in southern Ontario to be assembled on site.
Work is expected to resume on site next week, a city spokesperson told Sudbury.com.
The work site was vacated in early October when its previous general contractor, Nomodic Modular Structures, declared bankruptcy.
Nomodic’s bankruptcy application was made on Oct. 6, and work continued at Lorraine Street until Oct. 13 to batten down the work site, ensuring it was free of debris and weatherproofed for a shutdown of undetermined duration.
City Housing Services manager Cindi Briscoe told Sudbury.com the project is now approximately 70 per cent complete, with various work still needing to take place within the already-placed bottom two floors. The top two floors are expected to arrive early next year.
When its groundbreaking ceremony was held this summer, the four-storey, 40-unit transitional housing complex was expected to open by the end of 2023.
The new estimate is “early- to mid-2024,” Briscoe said, noting that Nomodic’s insolvency ended up delaying the project by approximately two months.
“Construction is not a science,” she said. “You’re at the mercy of Mother Nature, the labour situation, building materials...”
Despite the two-month delay, Briscoe said the city got off relatively easy.
“We’ve had colleagues in other municipalities who have gone almost half a year to a full year when they encountered situations like this,” she said, adding that city staff are pleased they were able to come to a resolution so quickly.
Greater Sudbury city council budgeted the transitional housing complex as a $14.4-million project, including a $7.4-million pledge from the federal government.
With the city calling in a bond to fill the gap in service Nomodic left behind, with Flex Modular, Briscoe said the city’s budget remains in-tact.
The transitional housing complex is a modular build, with its components built in segments at a Flex Modular facility in Dundalk, a village in southern Ontario, and then assembled on site.
Nomodic Modular Structures Inc. was awarded the project’s tender on Sept. 16, 2022. Their head office is in Calgary, and their Ontario operations are based in Burlington.
The building’s 40 residents will be people who are considered chronically homeless, and will include referrals and people on the city’s by-name list (those experiencing homelessness).
Health Sciences North partnered with the city to hire an Assertive Community Treatment Team to provide support for residents to ensure they find success in housing. A smaller version of the team started work at a temporary pilot site at the start of 2022.
As of the city’s latest update on Nov. 16, the city’s by-name list included 251 actively homeless people. There are 61 people staying in encampments, 63 unsheltered people, 70 in a shelter and 57 provisionally accommodated or “unknown.” Although this represents the number of people who have agreed to be added to the city’s by-name list, it does not represent the total number of people who are experiencing homelessness in Greater Sudbury.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
