Link to meeting video & minutes
Sometimes I complain about Council, but last week they really earned their salary: the meeting lasted nearly five hours. So much talking. Sitting in the audience, it was pretty easy to imagine being in a homeless shelter entrance, waiting around for other people to make decisions about you.
Mayor Ritsma flatly stated that he is against temporary shelters, which he sees as a “band-aid solution”. This is the prevailing wisdom, and he had the figures to back up his claim. (See the video at 3:27) It is much cheaper to provide homes for people than it is to juggle them around in sheltered facilities. This was supported later in the meeting by Councillor Biehn, who really won my respect by doing her homework: she visited a person who has experienced homelessness, and I recommend listening to her tell Council how valuable it is to the human spirit to have a place to call home. (4:06)
Councillor Briscoe provided a more nuanced view, indicating that you have to have some form of temporary shelter in order to connect people to housing. Shelters are a necessary part of the system. The problem, however, is that the provincial government has said that once an emergency shelter is established, it cannot be shut down unless there is no more need for it. Councillors seem to be pretty wary of that kind of commitment. (3:55)
There was no shortage of opinions on the shelter proposal. Everyone, including Councillor Wordofa, agreed that the Rotary Complex is a terrible place for a shelter, but there seems to be no alternative. I find it hard to believe that we can’t find somewhere, given that staff reported at the meeting that we have perhaps as few as 25 homeless people in encampments in our city. (4:08) The staff statement provoked a debate on how large our homeless population really is, but personally, I can’t see arguing about it. How small must the number of cold, hungry and unhoused people be before we can turn a blind eye?
Just the same, I’d like to know more. As Rob Wreford suggested in his deputation, it would be good for the data on homelessness and its associated expenses to be made public by the City. (3:09)
Jason Davis made the central point of the discussion: “Homelessness is not a failure of character. It is a failure of our society.” I was particularly struck by his reading of a seven-year-old news story on unsuccessful efforts to establish a homeless shelter in Stratford. They seem to have talked about it a lot, but nothing came of it.
The big surprise of the evening came from the Stratford Council of Churches, who announced a $400,000 grant they had received for complementary services in relief of the homeless, as described here by Pastor Biehn. This opens a range of exciting possibilities, but as I understood from the presentation, the project is just in the discussion stage; discussions beginning in November of of 2024 have led to a proposal put forward to the Council of Churches by the Mayor this September, which has been endorsed in principle by the Council of Churches, although they believe further discussion is necessary. As Councillor Burbach advised, collaboration with social services would be necessary. We should keep an eye on this. (2:34)
Mike Sullivan believes we should bite the bullet, and create a shelter. Many people in Stratford want the homeless situation responded to, and that was certainly evident in the number of people who remained through the three hours it took to get to this point in the meeting.
Mike reminded Council that housing is a basic Canadian right, and he suggested several possibilities for action. As the city is years away from building appropriate housing, some kind of accommodation is needed. We should look at examples of other Canadian cities. (3:35)
WHAT COUNCIL SAID
The vote was called and councillors voted against Councillor Wordofa’s motion, explaining their vote as follows: Councillor Henderson said she preferred a collaboration with the Council of Churches, and she feels we shouldn’t advertise how well we take care of the homeless, as more people will come to Stratford. (3:58) Councillor Hunter said that Stratford’s only source of funding is the taxpayer, and every tax dollar makes housing more expensive. He believes shelters are not a good use of that money. Like Ritsma, he believes housing should be permanent, and suggested looking for grants, and perhaps volunteers. (4:00) Councillor Burbach agreed, and mentioned the new ten-year plan, which could be informed by Council’s discussion. She said that giving temporary shelter just escalates the problem, which is made worse by the toxic drug situation today. The city is planning a 12-unit supporting housing facility, with half a million in support allocated by the City. She proposed a “warming center” that would not become permanent. (4:02)
Councillor McCabe said that homelessness is growing rapidly and municipalities are bearing the brunt of the cost. He criticized provincial decisions, and said this is a federal problem, and should be dealt with at that level of government. (4:08) Mayor Ritsma added in financial data in support of Councillor McCabe. (4:10) Councillor Wordofa responded by signalling the seriousness of the situation today. (4:12) Staff responded that the situation is complicated, that each case must be considered on an individual basis, and that many homeless avoid shelters because they can be dangerous. (4:15) Councillor Wordofa responded by asking for an information meeting with United Housing.
Councillor Beatty interjected that he is “pissed off” that participants in the meeting were using words like “shameful” and “embarrassed” to describe what is going on with housing in our city. He demanded that the Respectful Workplace Policy be followed, stating that staff has been insulted, and that we are one of the most generous communities in Canada. I attended the entire meeting, and I saw no disrespect to staff, only concern for a serious social problem, and staff were very professional in calmly pointing out the facts of the situation. That’s their job, and they do it well. The ultimate responsibility lies with Council. (4:18)
Councillor Briscoe has received information from another community that their shelter has only raised the number of homeless (4:20)
It was then decided that discussions with the Council of Churches would continue, hopefully looking into the possibility of opening a warming centre for the coldest nights.
The warming centre idea raises an interesting question. In choosing an alternative to a permanent shelter, we should remember that Ontario does not have a province-wide statutory legal definition of a “warming centre.” The Municipality defines services, which typically include resting spaces, access to meals, washroom facilities, and referrals to emergency shelters. We could come up with our own list of services, deciding what to provide, and when. After all, it would be up to us how low the temperature would have to be to offer services. There’s a lot of wiggle room in there, particularly since climate change may require us to create a “cooling centre” in summer.
Would this allow us to offer many of the services of a shelter, without fear of being committed to a permanent facility? With only 25 homeless people in Stratford to care for, it should be easy to find another multipurpose building closer to the town centre— maybe even spending less than we do now in providing hotel rooms and cabfare to send the homeless to other cities, as we do now.
The video of the meeting is worth watching; there were many good deputations I haven’t mentioned, notably Jane Marie Mitchell’s suggestion that the former Avon Crest site as ideal for a shelter (3:30), and Tanner Bergsma’s description of what it’s like to live in homelessness. (3:47) We’ll be writing more on this important issue over the coming year, and we’re looking for feedback. We hope you will respond in the comments and share this post. There’s much more to be learned, and we learn from each other.
by Sharon Collingwood
The impression I got from the meeting was that a homeless shelter would detract from out city’s charm. As if that eyesore Grand Trunk building doesn’t. That view was unspoken, but it’s what I picked up. I remind our councillors of the biblical passage :”In as much as you have done it onto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.”
Many salient points made by Mike Sullivan, the one that struck me as a concerned citizen was about the past record.
Notwithstanding that this is a complicated and common issue, the fact that almost the same words were spoken by councillors for years and that the issue has only grown —speaks volumes to me.
It speaks to the agonizingly slow rate that “social” and “climate” issues get dealt with here.
Side note- addiction and mental health is also part of the bigger picture as alluded to by other speakers