Local groups are putting together a housing proposal for Stratford City Council.
The Ending Homelessness Committee have been working on this proposal, which would include emergency and long-term solutions for Stratford’s homeless population.
In that meeting last month, Coun. Geza Wordofa’s motion about possibly putting a temporary shelter in the Rotary Complex didn’t pass.
Executive Director for United Way Perth-Huron Ryan Erb said mayor and council then asked the committee to come back with extra options for them to consider.
“United Way is one of the main partners in that conversation, alongside our friends at the Council Of Churches who wanted to be supportive of it, and of course organizations like the city itself, the Canadian Mental Health Association, and the hospital,” said Erb.
“There’s a couple of things we’ve been talking about for quite some time.”
Erb said they’re trying to balance short-term and long-term options.
“In this particular case when we talk about housing and homelessness, the reality is that our solution is housing,” said Erb.
“We have to make sure we don’t spend all of our money on the short-term solutions, but we have to have compassion for those experiencing a challenge today.”
He added they’ve been having meetings with the core partners to bring a draft proposal to the whole committee, with the aim of balancing everyone’s perspectives.
Some solutions they expect to be in the proposal are improving both emergency services and long-term permanent housing.
They plan to bring the draft to the committee in the next two weeks, then to city council sometime in November/December.
Erb hopes some of the shorter-term solutions in the proposal are put into effect within weeks/months after presenting to council.
