Sudbury Mayor Paul Lefebvre was on the defensive at a town hall meeting Wednesday night after residents concerned about a new transitional housing project packed a local high school.
It was a full house at École secondaire Macdonald-Cartier on Lasalle Boulevard. Lefebvre continues holding town hall meetings across the city with area councillors.
However, at the Ward 5 meeting, he found himself on the hot seat for a while.
Many neighbours said they are still upset about a 40-unit transitional housing complex to be built on Lorraine Street in the New Sudbury area.
The decision – which was made by the previous council under staff’s recommendation – has faced criticism from many in the area due to its proximity to both an elementary and a secondary school.
A petition signed by about 400 people in the neighbourhood and around the city was presented to council in October 2021 asking the location of the project be changed. Council ultimately approved the project with a budget of $14.4 million in August 2022.
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Wednesday night, the current mayor was asked what the city is doing to protect those who already live in the community and why the city is “allowing the city's homeless and potential drug users” to move in.
"The people going into those units are the people that can be housed,” Lefebvre said.
“They're not the ones as I said ‘I can give them my house, my fridge full of food that still don't want it.’”
He said people will not be forced to live there.
“These are people that are in a state that has been decided by individual social workers, that are going to get these folks off the street that are able to have a home,” Lefebvre said.
“They're transitioning, we're hoping to a regular home, a regular apartment, they need the wraparound services."
There is no official timeline for when construction will proceed.
More information on the project can be found on the city’s ‘Over to You’ website.
