North Bay is seeing a housing development boom

North Bay's housing development continues to grow Housing was a significant factor in North Bay's 2023 construction activity. Eric Taschner has the latest.

With 2023 coming to a close in a few short days – housing development in North Bay has increased significantly compared to the figures of the past two years.

City officials told CTV News that they are now on track to meet provincial requirements to receive additional provincial funding in the years to come as well.

Residential developer John Wallace said he is impressed with the speed of housing development in 2023.

“We opened 21 new lots in further down Kenreta Drive,” said Wallace.

“They’re all pre-sold and all fully serviced now.”

He attributes part of the northern housing boom to new families moving out of gridlock in Toronto to more rural communities.

“There has been a dramatic change from a couple of years ago when it was hard to sell lots,” said Wallace.

The city’s most recent building permit data shows more than 160 new units were approved for construction as of the end of November – including 30 single-family homes and 111 multi-residential units. This is an increase of more than 20 units compared to 2022’s totals.

“It shows confidence in our economy and confidence in our city,” said North Bay Mayor Peter Chirico.

The housing approvals that were issued puts the city on track to meet its 10-year housing target of a thousand new units by 2030 – this achievement would unlock $800,000 in funding from the Ontario Government’s Building Faster Fund.

The city is also in the process of applying for $18 million from Ottawa through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Housing Accelerator Fund.

City officials said the additional funding will be used for affordable housing.

“We need to do some affordable housing and rent-geared-to-income housing within our city because of the shortage of housing units,” said Chirico.

Looking ahead to 2024, city staff said they are looking at streamlining the building permit and planning application process to make it more accessible and appealing for residential property owners to create additional units on their properties.

“We’re hoping and seeing a number of different developments,” added the mayor.

Wallace said his company Laurentian Heights Ltd. is hoping to open the file phase of their development next year.

“(It) is called Baxter Courts,” he said.

The final phase includes another 18 lots in the area.

The City of North Bay has issued over $97 million in building permits this year – half of that is from residential construction.