The Independent

The Board of The Inn of the Good Shepherd is launching an appeal after Sarnia City Council turned down a plan for a 62-unit affordable housing project.

The original proposal has a 56-unit, six-storey apartment building and a six-unit townhouse complex on a 1.58-acre property, which consolidates four parcels of land including a former church now used as a shelter at the southwest corner of Exmouth and Melrose streets. Neighbours have been voicing their concerns about the shelter at the site now for months. It was part of the reason council turned down the proposal.

Myles Vanni, the Inn’s executive director, hoped to adjust the project to meet city council’s approval. But in a news release Friday, said the board would take the decision to the Ontario Land Tribunal “in an effort to move forward with this much needed project in order to lessen the housing emergency in our community.

The Board of The Inn, at its recent meeting, voted to appeal the decision of council to the
Ontario Land Tribunal in an “effort to move forward with this much-needed project in order to
lessen the housing emergency in our community.”

The Inn’s board says the city needs the housing since 25 years ago upper levels of government stopped funding affordable housing, social assistance rates were slashed 20 years ago and have never caught up to current costs of living and the province eliminated rent caps nearly doubling the cost of apartments in the community.

“Concerns of neighbours regarding the current use of the property – an emergency shelter and a
day-time homelessness resource centre – are understandable. Behaviours of some clients have
been disruptive and troubling. These services will be moved to another location being worked on
by the County and Indwell,” the board said in a news release.

“However, it needs to be clarified that these are not the target residents for this proposed project. Quite the contrary, it is geared to the demographic of low income, working poor, seniors and those on disability pensions.”