SooToday received the following letter to the editor from Josiah Childs, who shares ideas about how the city can curb the affordable housing crisis and create a more welcoming community:
We should grow the Sault by densifying the city instead of building outwards. Sault Ste. Marie needs to densify in order to grow as a city, and not to build outwards. There is an ongoing affordable housing crisis in both Sault Ste. Marie, and all over the world. In addition, building outwards also means that we will be losing forests and farmlands. Farmland is essential for human survival.
Densifying Sault Ste, Marie means that we can save our forests and farmlands. We should save our forests and farmlands because if we do not have any farms left, and they are taken over by suburbia, then there would be no way for anyone to survive. Additionally, if the city decides to densify, that means the city can help solve the affordable housing crisis locally, also by making sure that most of the density is affordable. In my opinion, the Sault should start densifying in areas that have great access to public transit, shopping, work, etc. They should have access to public transit because it will help them to go car free. In addition, having access to public transit also means that they can still have access to other parts of the city.
I believe that the Sault should start densifying as soon as possible, and should also start in certain areas of the city. The areas I believe should be used to start to densify are the downtown, the Walmart, Northern Ave. Plaza, Market Mall, Cambrian Mall, Churchill Plaza, The Shoppes on the Trans Canada, and Food Basics Pine Street. I believe that the city should start densifying by densifying those areas because with the fact that they all have decent public transit access, and the fact that there are already tons of options for work, groceries, etc. at or near those places, means that those places would generate lots of revenue from those who live in those developments, and from locals and visitors.
I know this because it encourages pedestrian walkability between those places. For example, CF Lime Ridge, in Hamilton, Ontario, with a couple of 12 floor high buildings, says that this will increase their part as a vibrant, vast destination. That is something that the Sault can do too (such as where the Sears used to be at the Station Mall).