The availability of housing is one of the greatest challenges for many rural communities to attract workers, and so the Town of Fort Frances will take steps to support potential new out of town hires in the future.
Fort Frances council tasked municipal staff in September to dig into staff housing challenges and report back about ways to reduce recruitment barriers and how to support sustainable hiring. The reasoning is that addressing those hurdles may enhance the town’s competitiveness in attracting staff.
As part of the 2026 municipal capital and operating budget preparation, staff outlined four options to support new hires in securing housing.
Option 1 is to provide better relocation incentives for new hires. The thinking is that offering conditional financial incentives to new hires relocating from outside the Rainy River District will strengthen recruitment efforts by helping offset relocation or higher accommodation costs.
Council decided during its Oct. 27 meeting to go with the first option and include its associated costs in the 2026 budget.
Option 2 was to monitor real estate market in Fort Frances in anticipation of potential use by new staff. Purchasing housing options for the use by new recruits may eliminate housing availability as a recruitment barrier.
“This would require significant capital investment, but the properties could be viewed as assets, with the option to sell in the future if desired by council,” according to the staff report.
Based on current Realtor.ca listings, smaller houses under 1000 square feet cost about $170,000 to about $340,000. With this current price range, next year’s municipal budget would require a commitment of $400,000. That would be $300,000 for property procurement and $100,000 for any required work and maintenance.
Option 3 was that the town partner with a service manager, non-profit organization, or property management company to access available housing units to rent for staff housing.
Finally, Option 4 was to develop housing in which we can retain a portion for staffing needs. Development of housing may assist with several Strategic Plan priority areas such as available housing supply and the development of Erin Crescent.
Councillor Wendy Brunetta said the municipality does own an eight-unit non-profit housing that charges rent geared to income (RGI). The mortgage for that structure will be paid in 2028.
“At that time, the non-profit housing board and council will have a decision to make in terms of whether we continue with a rent geared to income housing unit or whether we decision to end our RGI obligations,” Brunetta said.
“We can then start filling the vacant units with market rent (tenants).”
That won’t address current needs, but council prove beneficial to the town in recruiting future employees, she said.
Council ultimately agreed with the report’s suggestion to proceed with Option 1, and tasked administration with working potential conditional financial incentives into next year’s operating budget.
