St. Catharines mayor says housing is 2022 priority for the city

The mayor of St. Catharines says affordable housing, encouraging local business development and increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates are among the priorities for the city this new year.

Mayor Walter Sendzik joined Bob Cowan on Morning Live Thursday to discuss his plans.

“Housing is a crisis in many communities and we’ve got to address it this year,” Sendzik said.

City council has already taken steps as they authorized the sale of approximately 3.8 acres of city-owned land on 230 Geneva St. for $1.35 million to Penn Terra Group Ltd. last month.

The development will include one, nine-storey building with 180 rental units and one, four-storey building with 32, two-bedroom townhouses.

The affordable housing portion of the site will consist of the 32 townhouses, which will be sold at 10 per cent below the average purchase price of a resale unit in the regional market area, and 60 rental units rented at 80 per cent of average market rents for a unit in the regional market area.

Another item on the city’s 2022 agenda is to promote the growth of local businesses.

The downtown and Merritton neighbourhoods of St. Catharines are just two of the 65 main street communities across Ontario that will take part in the My Main Street Local Business Accelerator program.

The aim of this two-year initiative is to revitalize local businesses and major streets.

“We’re also focused on the BIPOC community, as well as the LGBTQ+ community, and getting more of those entrepreneurs into our spaces so that we can continue to grow our economy as we come out of the pandemic,” Sendzik said.

Increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates is also a priority for St. Catharines, he said.

As of Jan.13, Niagara Region Public Health reported 82 per cent of residents in the Niagara region have their first dose of the vaccine and 77 per cent have their second dose.

Sendzik said he would like to see that figure rise this year to prevent further COVID-related staffing shortages in the city, hospitalizations and deaths.