New Sudbury program aims to address affordable housing and worker shortages

A new program in Sudbury is aiming to address the need for affordable housing as well as a worker shortage in the construction industry.

Community Builders North is a social enterprise company, based in Barrie and now expanding to Sudbury. It's a non-profit construction company that hires people with barriers to employment.

"Sometimes it looks like not appropriate ID and we have to help them apply for those things or insecure housing or they've never had a job and they need experience or a reference," Carly Gasparini, managing director of Community Builders North said.

"Sometimes it's childcare. Very often we get individuals with the barrier of having a criminal record, so helping them to get the experience and reference they need to be able to apply for a job in the private sector despite that."

Gasparini said the program trains people with both classroom and hands-on experience.

"We know particularly in Sudbury there is a major labour shortage in our trades sector," she said.

"So this is a way to fill that gap, kind of finding the people who most need work with the jobs that most need filling."

She said another aspect to the company is to also work on projects that focus on affordable housing.

"In some places that has looked like hotel conversions, in some places they might take an old church or vacant building," she said.

Gasparini said they have partnered with Raising the Roof, an organization that works to acquire vacant or underutilized properties to renovate and turn into affordable housing. She said that group is working to purchase five homes in the community that Community Builders North will renovate.

She added they're also working with Greater Sudbury Housing to do work on units.

"We move people out of sometimes homeless, certainly poverty into good employment or apprenticeships," she said.

"This model is kind of revolutionary as it uses individuals who already have supports in the community and now we're offering to those agencies this really supported employment option."

'An opportunity'

Danny Pike went through the program in Barrie about five years ago. He said before the program, it was frustrating to apply for jobs because it always included the request of a police record.

"I stopped applying for jobs," he said.

Pike found Community Builders and told them he wanted to work but was on probation. He was told that wasn't a problem.

"That's what I like about the company. It gives people who have those barriers at least an opportunity to make employment and get off the assistance and feel better for themselves," he said.

Pike said the experience has been life changing for him. Now, he owns a home, he's sober and said he enjoys going to work..

"If I can change, anybody can change," he said.