THUNDER BAY - Organizers of a housing expo in Thunder Bay say the housing market needs to open more doors, and not just for new home buyers, but new ideas, concepts, and people.
The second Northern Ontario Housing Expo was held in Thunder Bay on Saturday, and Manuele Mizzi, one of the founders of the expo, said this year’s theme is all about opening doors.
“We have to be open to new ideas,” he said. “We have to be open to sharing where our accolades are and where we are failing. Where we are failing is where other people are having accolades. So I think if we share those things, people will take what we are doing well and what we are not doing well, and we will be able to build off each other."
The expo, which included educational sessions and a tradeshow, covered topics ranging from real estate, property management, and urban development. According to Mizzi, in order for the housing market to grow, there needs to be more collaboration between the various sectors of the market.
“There’s a lot of siloing going on,” he said. “Everybody stays in their own groups. I want the different portions to work with each other, to talk about vacancy, talk about building, talk about the infrastructure changing as people are moving in and out of Thunder Bay.”
While the housing market in Thunder Bay is growing, the population is not, which means something needs to change in order to harness the little growth that is there.
“If we don’t share information, there’s going to be no growth,” Mizzi said. “Growth is based on sharing and working together. I think if we stay in our own lanes, it’s not going to work. Especially in places that are smaller cities, like Thunder Bay. They need this kind of growth. They need people coming in and bringing money.”
Sandi Boucher, Aboriginal author, activist, entrepreneur, and keynote speaker during the expo, said indigenous people represent a growing segment of the population that has often been overlooked, or even shut out of the housing market.
“There are huge challenges when it comes to indigenous people renting in the city,” she said. “We’ve seen racism, blatant racism. We have to move past that.”
Boucher added there needs to be better communication between landlords, property managers, real estate agents, and the indigenous community.
“It’s important to stay away from the stereotypes,” she said. “Not the entire indigenous population is impoverished or uneducated. The indigenous population in this city actually has a large economic impact on this city.”
There are a lot of potential benefits for those in the real estate market, according to Boucher, if they are just willing to adjust how they communicate with indigenous people and how they build relationships. If long lasting relationships are created, Boucher said renters will see their units filled constantly.
“The fact is the population is here, it always has been here,” she said. “It is growing. It is tied to a huge need for housing. But there is a huge need for the understanding of the cultural differences. How the housing industry, if they make a little bit of adjustment, could really benefit and help that population settle into the city.”
