THUNDER BAY — An apartment building may rise where the former rectory of St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church on Pearl Street stood for decades before recently being demolished.
"This would be the only affordable housing project in that area. It's extremely important," said the Reverend Ann Camber, pastor at Gathering Table, a new parish formed in 2018 by the merger of St. John's and St. Luke's Anglican churches.
The congregation is looking to build a nine-storey complex containing about 64 one-bedroom units, and has nicknamed the project WINGS, which stands for "wildly inspirational goals."
The rectory at 226 Pearl St. was torn down because it required costly repairs and contained asbestos and mould.
Reverend Camber told Newswatch discussions about repurposing the site began a number of years ago but didn't progress.
Then, a year after she was appointed in 2022, the social justice committee for the Anglican Church's diocese of Algoma took up the issue.
"We were focusing on homelessness and some of the solutions, so I asked the people of the parish to consider and pray abut using that property for affordable housing."
Leaders of the congregation began to research outside funding, she said, because it's a large undertaking for a church that has 130 members.
"We're in discussion with all the different funding organizations...because it's not a project we can personally fund."
Rev. Camber believes the project is a strong candidate for support from the federal government's Housing Accelerator initiative, and said Gathering Table has already had encouraging discussions with the City of Thunder Bay, which disperses the grants available through the program.
"We're saying this is a prime area where people need housing, and we're at the same target populations the housing accelerator fund in the city is looking to house. We want to help facilitate that."
She added "We're applying for funding for affordable housing, not just for any housing, so people can age in place even if they're on OAS, CPP and GIS, and that's all they have for income. So they could live there without really being poor."
Floors two to nine would contain apartments, while the main floor would hold the food bank that's currently operated out of the church next door.
It would also include support services and a common area.
Rev. Camber said the parish aims to develop an eco-friendly, net-zero carbon emissions facility serviced with solar panels, heat pumps and possibly mini-turbines.
The church will have to form an arms-length corporation to manage the complex, but she said members of the congregation "will be very active in helping out with the people who live there."
Gathering Table would like to see sod turned on WINGS as early as this year.
A zoning change would not be required for the project to proceed.
