Priority 06
Housing Accessibility & Affordability
Modernize approvals and partner with all stakeholders so accessible housing for every stage of life gets built faster.
The challenge
Slow approvals and a narrow housing mix keep families, newcomers, and young professionals waiting or looking elsewhere.
Our plan
- Modernize approvals and partner with all stakeholders in the property and development eco-system so accessible housing for every stage of life gets built faster.
- Partner with builders, non-profits, and Indigenous communities to expand all housing types.
- Make Thunder Bay a place where families, newcomers, and professionals can build their futures.
What success looks like
More homes of every type getting built, shorter approval timelines, and a city where the next generation can afford to stay.
Want to help make this happen?
Join the campaign and help turn these priorities into action for Thunder Bay.
Key initiatives
- Accelerate Waterfront & Downtown Development
Accelerate waterfront and downtown core revitalization and all related projects, building in multi-use and vertical high-rise solutions.
- Fast-Track Rental Housing (YIMBY)
Accelerate "Yes, in my back yard" (YIMBY) housing and rental property growth with fast-tracked processes and timelines.
- Preserve Urban Greenspace
Preserve urban greenspace.
- Mixed-Use, Mixed-Income Neighbourhoods
Ensure new greenfield developments are mixed use, mixed income - true destination neighbourhood communities.
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- Housing Accessibility & Affordability
It is time for Thunder Bay to control its housing destiny
September 16 2026
Thunder Bay is facing a housing crisis that is hitting our seniors, people with disabilities, young families, and low-income residents the hardest.
Thunder Bay is facing a housing crisis that is hitting our seniors, people with disabilities, young families, and low-income residents the hardest. Yet unlike most Ontario cities, Thunder Bay does not own housing, cannot freeze rents, and cannot directly build accessible or supportive units.
When Ontario downloaded social housing close to 30 years ago, Thunder Bay’s housing stock went to the District Social Services Administration Board (TBDSSAB), not the city. That decision left Thunder Bay without the tools most other Ontario municipalities rely on to build homes and protect affordability for the people who need it most.
The time to fix that is now.
Thunder Bay needs to establish a Municipal Housing Corporation. It will be a city-owned, public-interest developer focused on building accessible, affordable, mixed-income housing. Cities across Ontario use municipal housing corporations to build thousands of units, freeze rents for the most vulnerable residents, and partner directly with Indigenous governments, non-profits, and builders. Sudbury, Hamilton and many others are already doing it.
We are one of the few cities without one, and our residents are paying the price.
A Municipal Housing Corporation will allow Thunder Bay to build housing on municipal land, apply universal design standards which include accessibility, and ensure all accessible units remain affordable. It will let the city access federal and provincial funding directly, instead of relying on other sources that can dry up without warning. It will give us the ability to set rent stability policies for accessible units, which is something we cannot do today.
Thunder Bay deserves a housing system that works for Thunder Bay. Together as Mayor and with a newly elected Council, we can make that happen.
Establishing a Municipal Housing Corporation is a concrete, doable step toward building the homes our residents need, and toward a Thunder Bay that works for everyone who lives here.