This February meeting of the Joint Social Services and Land Ambulance Committee will be a brief affair when compared to previous meetings, as this agenda will focus almost exclusively on housing files. As one construction projects wrap up, another one looks to get started, and then the committee will dig into reports on the present situation with unhoused people in the region, both short-term and long-term.
NOTE: This meeting takes place at 1 pm in the Guthrie Room at the Wellington County Administration Building on Woolwich Street.
65 Delhi St. Transitional Housing Construction Project: Status Report 11 – The grand opening date for this new facility is Wednesday February 19, and County staff have been on-site for the last month getting it ready as contractors have been finishing things off and cleaning up. The report does note that the added cost of security and door hardware has resulted in a budget overrun of about $415,000, which is within the contingency fund for this project.
Tender Award: Window, Door and Siding Replacement at 133 Frederick St., Arthur – About 40 windows need to be replaced at a building that houses 10 units. Over a dozen submissions were received from contractors wanting the job, but staff are recommending Apply Contracting out of Petersburg for the gig at a cost of $83,400.
2024-25 Winter Response December Update – This report covers the results of the plan up until the end of December. Stats for December include 11 people being moved to temporary accommodations from living rough, with five people able to find permanent housing in Guelph, and four who left shelters for “various reasons”. The report also says that only 36 per cent of the 47 emergency beds at Stepping Stone were occupied nightly on average, which is down from 46 per cent in November.
2024 Wellington-Guelph Everyone Counts: Coordinated Point-in-Time Count of Homelessness – The Point-in-Time Count is a co-ordinated Canada-wide effort to try and account for all unhoused people in every municipality across the country by using anonymous surveys and a short timeline to complete and collect them. This year, or rather last year, the Point-in-Time Count was completed from October 23 to 25 with three days in Wellington and two days in Guelph. A full Infograph is provided in the report with a breakdown of the data collected, but in brief there are at least 335 people in this region experiencing homelessness, over three-quarters have been chronically homeless (for six months or more), two-thirds are male, 39 per cent didn’t complete high school and 17 per cent experienced homelessness before they were even 16 years old.
Guelph Politico 