To this ongoing debate in our community that started with some discussions around the council table almost one-year ago, an ending. Since February, Mayor Cam Guthrie has been working hard to establish a Guelph version of A Better Tent City, and those efforts seem to have fallen on the square shoulders of the Guelph Tiny Home Coalition. They’ve already taken this to Wellington County, but now it comes back to our own council.
NOTE #1: Delegates will be able to appear at this meeting in-person or via tele-presense but you do have to registerwith the clerks office before 10 am on Friday July 12. You can also submit written delegations and correspondences for agenda items.
NOTE #2: In addition to meeting in-person, this meeting will also be live-streamed on the City of Guelph’s website here.
Follow up, Mayoral Direction B4: Temporary Structured Encampment – Following up on June’s meeting of the Joint Social Services and Land Ambulance Committee, the ball is now back in council’s report.
First, there’s a new report about the idea from the Guelph Tiny Home Coalition written by Wellington County’s housing staff. To quote, “The Tiny Home Coalition’s proposal, in its current state, appears to not be viable as many factors which need to be evaluated are not addressed or supporting data is not provided.” Such as? Secured land, a fully costed operating and capital budget, demonstrated financial viability, programme designs, formalized partnerships, client management, site designs, planning approvals and detailed construction timelines.
Having said that, the County is open to sharing data from the By-Name List, the ongoing list of people experiencing homelessness in the region, and exploring how shelter allowances from Ontario Works or the Ontario Disability Support Program might be applied to being given shelter at a tiny home encampment. And yet, they don’t see a place for a tiny home encampment as it stands right now in the housing system they manage.
So what does City of Guelph recommend that council do now? There are three recommendations, including one to send this report back to the joint committee for information. Also, council are being asked to direct staff to identify the potential for City owned lands to be used for the development of temporary or permanent housing as part of the planned City-wide land inventory evaluation coming back in Q1 2025; and to request the committee to refer estimated costs, including any federal and provincial funding, to house people on the By-Name List not covered by the main shelter system for winter 2024/2025.
CLOSED MEETING:
Potential Municipally Owned Sites for Temporary Structured Encampment – Likely following up on the implications the main meeting report, council will discuss this under Section 239 (2) (a) and (k) of the Municipal Act for “the security of the property of the municipality or local board and a position, plan, procedure, criteria or instruction to be applied to any negotiations carried on or to be carried on by or on behalf of the municipality or local board.”
Guelph Politico 