North Bay initiative aims to accelerate residential construction in the city

North Bay has launched an initiative to give cash to cover building expenses to convince homeowners to develop housing units on their property.

North Bay city council says it has heard loud and clear about the affordable housing issues in the community.

That’s why it has launched an initiative to give cash to cover building expenses to convince homeowners to develop additional housing units on their property.

The additional housing unit (ADU) grant aims to convince property owners and builders to develop more units on existing or new homes with an incentive of up to $25,000 to cover the cost.

“We are lucky to receive $10.6 million from the federal government through housing accelerator funding, which we are putting towards our housing action plan,” said Coun. Justine Mallah, chair of community services.

Mallah said she’s heard from residents concerned about the housing crisis, especially affordable housing options.

“We want to further density to the urban areas within North Bay where we already have the infrastructure,” she said.

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“That’s where we want to add in more additional lots, which means that we don’t have to, for instance, build the infrastructure outside of town.”

City council has also increased the number of additional units that can be located on a piece of property, noting homeowners can now have four units, up from three.

Taylor Simard, Degagne Carpentry’s sales manager, said more homeowners are choosing this option.

“We have a build on Corbeil Road right now where they design their whole home,” Simard said.

Aim to add 840 new units

“With that in mind, they have an in-law suite in the basement.”

The goal in the next three years is to create 840 new housing units, of which 337 are intended to be directly related to the housing accelerator fund.

“We have already seen an increase in additional dwelling units specifically, but housing units … in total," Mallah said.

“So I’m very optimistic.”

A need has been identified in the community for all forms of housing -- market rental and affordable housing units.

“This is what we’re seeing more and more of, where families are kind of snuggling up together more on one property or one house,” Simard said.

The city had 36 additional dwelling units created in 2024, which represented 36 per cent of the new housing starts last year.

In 2023, there were 22 additional housing units and 20 in 2022.