Stratford city council voted against putting a homeless shelter in the Rotary Complex for the winter.
Councillor Geza Wordofa put forward a motion about the possibility of adding a temporary emergency shelter at the complex in next year’s budget.
It proved to be a hot topic at council, with 10 people speaking about the motion and the issue of homelessness, including co-founder of Stratford Affordable Housing Alliance Jason Davis, Council of Churches representatives Pastor Jubilee, Bruno Hacquebard, and Suzi Higgins, part-time cab driver Rob Wreford, residents Mitchell Demars and Jane Marie Mitchell, BDO Canada Consultant Stephen Landers, and Get Concerned Stratford’s Mike Sullivan.
Some like Wreford, Sullivan, Mitchell supported the motion, highlighting the urgent need for housing.
“The Rotary is a good-sized building to house a number of people for sleeping,” said Mitchell.
“Maybe you plan it so that shelter isn’t a permanent fixture, and you build it to next Monday’s meeting about building affordable housing that’s 4-5 years down the road, but what are you going to do until that housing is built,” said Sullivan.
Wreford said the debate shouldn’t be stuck on location, but should be about finding immediate solutions to homelessness.
Speakers including Demars and resident Brad Turk opposed it, describing the Complex as ‘not a good place to house the homeless’.
Both Davis and Demars said it’s far away from much-needed services.
“It requires near complete removal of the population on a daily basis, with no grocery stores or other assistance whatsoever in the area,” said Davis.
“From my house, one block from the complex, it’s about 30 minutes to get to the centre of town, about 35 to get to Tim Hortons on Huron Street, and more than 45 to get to No Frills. Other locations like the mall, Lifelabs, Walmart, Post Office, CMHSA Centre, and Connection Centre are further away,” said Demars.
While he described the proposal as compassionate in intent, Turk said having the shelter in the complex would disrupt the many activities that normally take place in the facility.
“The complex is one of Stratford’s most heavily-used places in the winter, it’s home to hockey, figure skating, recreational programs, concerts, craft shows, community fundraisers, school events, and private rentals,” said Turk.
“Turning it into a shelter would displace those activities, causing disruptions across the community and resulting in substantial lost revenue from rentals. It would create increased expenses for the city, including additional maintenance, supplies, cleaning, staff and adding needed security to manage the division between shelter space and the arena.”
After a lengthy discussion about the motion, a majority of council voted against it, with only Wordofa voted in favour.
Coun. Taylor Briscoe said legally there’s no such thing as a temporary shelter, as the shelter, if it came in to effect, would be permanent until there’s adequate housing for people to move into.
“We want shelter to function as shelter, and right now it’s not and hasn’t been for decades,” said Briscoe.
“Shelter should be a triage point, it should be like an emergency room where you’re there for no more than 2 to 3 days and you move into an appropriate place of care.”
Coun. Bonnie Henderson opposed the motion, saying they should wait to hear from the Council of Churches, who have plans to build a potential warming centre.
