Atikokan’s economic boom is causing a housing shortage for workers looking to set up roots in the Northern Ontario community.
The town has a population of about 3,300 and has a number of projects on the way that include the conversion of a coal-powered generating station to biomass, the development of a number of mines and various construction jobs including the hospital extension.
Atikokan Mayor Dennis Brown said they are expecting about 900 permanent jobs from all of these projects and nearly 1,500 temporary jobs. But with that many people coming to work in the city, Brown said they are facing a challenge in finding places for them to live.
The issue came to the forefront after a report published in February this year showed that with the economic growth, Atikokan would need to build more homes for workers to live in.
“If all these initiatives go ahead there could be an opportunity to build up to 900 more homes or apartments or whatever,” Brown said. “That’s huge. In Atikokan right now there’s probably only 1,600 units. Younger people want large, spacious homes and that’s what we have to prepare for. We want to advertise for Atikokan that the workers can live right here.”
On average, only two or three homes are built in Atikokan per year and sometimes none at all. Brown said they haven’t had a demand for housing in the past two decades.
Brown said he hoped to have those houses or at least a hundred homes built before the proposed Osisko Hammond Reef mining project operation starts in 2017.
In order to find developers to take on this task, Brown hosted an open house Wednesday at the Whitewater Golf Course. He said they have to turn to the private sector in order to meet this new demand.
“We don’t even need to wait because we know that there is a need for apartments,” he said.
“There are 34 on a waiting list to get into apartments in Atikokan so that’s an opportunity that can take place right now. We hope to have an alliance with real estate developers and industry and the three of us working together. The town can’t build the homes themselves so that’s why we need the private sector.”
He added that they have worked with the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines as well as the Atikokan Economic Development office to find areas in town to develop these homes.
Tbnewswatch.com attempted to contact MPP Bill Mauro (Lib. Thunder Bay – Atikokan) for this story but was unsuccessful.
