The fate of a $3-million, supportive modular housing project on Vespra Street in Barrie will come to a head Monday as city council considers final approval of its 2021 operating and capital budget.
These one-person, 450- to 500-square-foot, stackable units costing about $195,000 each are intended to help solve Barrie's homelessness problem.
“Right now in the city of Barrie there are people who are unhoused, living rough, in the middle of a pandemic when the temperature regularly drops below zero degrees at night. This is unacceptable and it’s a safety risk,” said Coun. Keenan Aylwin, who represents this part of the city.
“We need more supportive and social housing in Barrie — it’s not only the right thing to do, but it will save us money in the long run," he added. "We know that social and supportive housing are far more cost-effective solutions than emergency shelter.”
The $3-million financing for this project would be funded from city debt, with annual debt servicing costs paid from the city’s reinvestment reserve. This funding would be leveraged to access money from other sources, including different levels of government. And the financing would include $500,000 for soil remediation on the old fire hall site.
The city would also issue a call for proposals for a service provider, to construct and manage the building, and operation of the housing units; staff would report back to Barrie councillors with the results of the proposals received.
But Coun. Mike McCann says this is not a plan he can support.
“I have no opinion on this project itself. It’s the process I have a problem with,” he said. “We have zero experts telling us whether this is a good idea or not.
“It’s important that we get the facts. Facts have no feelings. We need to strip our emotion from these facts.”
McCann wants to know, for example, the true cost to clean up the site, how many units can be put on it and what the public thinks of the proposal — Barrie police, Simcoe County, city staff and the community in general.
“To me this is just a real gross mismanagement of taxpayers' dollars without engaging our experts and our public,” he said. “I don’t feel comfortable signing off on $3 million of taxpayer’s money without consulting our experts.”
Aylwin doesn’t see it that way.
“The motion is to direct city staff to create a call for proposals to housing providers to create a project on the city-owned lands on Vespra Street,” he said. “There will be a staff report coming back to general committee once proposals are received with a chance for the public as well as council to review and have their say.
“The $3 million in funding will not be finally committed until those proposals are received and a proposal is accepted.”
McCann said his view is different.
“The way I interpret this, once we sign off on the $3 million Monday, we don’t have the ability to take that back. It’s money spent,” he said. “What’s coming back is the modular home construction.”
McCann said he’d also like to know why this is the best site for supportive, modular homes.
“Why does it have to be Vespra (Street)? Maybe there’s a better spot in the city for this type of transitional home,” he said. “Maybe in the industrial lands, where you’ve got buildings sitting vacant that are perfectly good, but they have a hard time being leased out or bought… that could be the perfect spot.”
The soil remediation is expected to take at least six months. Environmental studies have been done on the site to determine its development potential. They found some remediation will be necessary prior to redevelopment; the existing soil condition is not ideal for supporting heavy loads, according to a city staff report, which also notes the ground water depth is between 1.3 and 3.4 metres below the surface.
“Environmental work on the site has identified the need to conduct soil remediation due to historical uses on the property,” Aylwin said. “The granular details on the project, including design, will be worked out through the call for proposals and the proposals received as part of that process.
"We are in the early stages and I’m confident that we will have all the information we need to create the best project possible for the site while engaging the neighbourhood in the process," he added.
If this project is approved and is debt-financed, it will add to the city’s forecast debt levels. They are $318 million this year, $313 million next year, $294 million in 2023, $301 million in 2024 and $305 million in 2025.
Another factor in council’s decision on this project could be funding for a similar project involving Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Rapid Funding Initiative. The $1-billion program is to address vulnerable Canadians’ urgent housing needs, especially during the pandemic — through rapid construction of affordable housing.
The County of Simcoe has indicated Barrie, Orillia and Midland should get some of whatever federal funding it receives for new projects. Two types of Barrie projects are being considered, one being the purchase and conversion of an existing building which could quickly be converted to housing.
If funding for that project is approved, it might make the Vespra Street project unnecessary, but a decision on the Rapid Housing funding isn’t expected until February.
Approval of the supportive, modular housing project on Vespra Street will be considered Monday by council as the 2021 operating and capital budget is passed. At this stage it sets a property tax increase of 0.92 per cent this year, or another $40.45 on a typical house assessed at $367,550, bringing taxes on that property to $4,494.45 this year from $4,454 in 2020.
Monday’s virtual council meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
