File Photo (Adam Riley / Acadia Broadcasting)

According to Ontario’s housing tracker, as of the last update on October 25, Thunder Bay has met and exceeded its housing target for the year with 167 housing starts underway.

Thunder Bay’s target by 2031 is 2,200 homes to be built. The 2023 housing target for the city was 161 units.

Director of Development Services Joel DePeuter noted at the October 23 city council meeting that he was optimistic the city would be able to hit this year’s target, “Given our permit activity, we are optimistic we will meet this target.”

“To date (as of October 23, 2023) in 2023 building permits have been issued to build 280 units, which is significantly up from the five-year average of 175 units annually.”

Thunder Bay is currently 1 of 9 municipalities that have hit their housing target for 2023.

Ontario has set a goal of building at least 1.5 million homes by 2031. To meet this goal, large and growing municipalities have been assigned housing targets.