Gore Bay’s mayor says there is ‘no place for social housing’ in the downtown

Published by: The Manitoulin Expositor
Author: Tom Sasvari
September 3, 2025

Mayor Lane says more mental health supports are required first

GORE BAY—Gore Bay Mayor Ron Lane says social housing has no place in the downtown of his community. As such, the Town of Gore Bay is hopeful it can purchase the former Woods Lane Apartments property (that was severely damaged in a fire on April 1) to have control of what might be located there in future.

“I made it clear that we don’t want them (Ontario Aboriginal Housing Services [OAHS]) to rebuild the same social housing units, and that as a town we are prepared to purchase the property,” stated Gore Bay Mayor Ron Lane, after a recent meeting with OAHS representatives. OAHS is the landlord of the former apartment complex.

“It was a good meeting, we had a good discussion and conversation,” Mayor Lane said of the meeting held with the CAO of OAHS, the building manager and other agency officials. “One of the topics we discussed was to ask why it is taking so long for OAHS to have the building demolished,” said Mayor Lane. “Currently, it is an eyesore.”

“We told her about our plan to encourage more residential development in the downtown area of town, and that social housing is not the best use of that property in the downtown area of town,” continued Mayor Lane. “She was interested in what we were saying, and she indicated (OAHS) builds all types of housing throughout Ontario.”

“No, there were no conclusions arrived at during the meeting, it was a meeting to ask questions and discuss concerns,” said Mayor Lane. He pointed out, as has been reported previously, town council passed a bylaw in August that will allow it to control any development on the Woods Lane Apartment building property for at least a year, to allow time for a study on the best housing use for the property. “They understood what and why we are looking at this and put the (interim control bylaw) in place,” said Mayor Lane. “The CAO told us the property and building are still tied to the Manitoulin-Sudbury District Services Board (DSB) and the DSB board still has some say as to what happens with the property.”

“The Town is interested in buying the property,” said Mayor Lane, who explained OAHS officials will be discussing this with the DSB to see if this will receive consideration.  

“OAHS indicated it is still going through its insurance company since the fire. They didn’t provide a timeline but indicated they are working with their insurance company as to a rebuild or a payout on the insurance,” continued Mayor Lane. OAHS inquired as to whether the town would be in favour of OAHS constructing social housing in another location in town. “We don’t need social housing here in town. There are no mental health supports in place in the area to allow for this type of housing,” added Mayor Lane. “We agreed to talk further in the future.”