Tag: Homelessness

GUELPH POLITICAST #402 – Christmas With Mark

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It’s time for our annual fireside chat with a prominent member of the Guelph community, and since we’re run the gamut of local political leaders over the last few years, we turn to the new head of the hospital. It’s a massive challenge, but in keeping with the spirit of the season, and the need to help people who can’t help themselves, we’re going spend Christmas week with the president and CEO of Guelph General Hospital, Mark Walton. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #402 – Christmas With Mark” →

This Week at Council: Royal City Mission Saved (For Now) and The Budget

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This week council took a couple of tough meetings. On Tuesday, there was a question about homelessness downtown, but the controversial motion proposed by Mayor Cam Guthrie had been pulled. Still, there’s was a matter of funding for Royal City Mission and their daytime shelter services, council had to decided how and if they were going to fund that further. And on Wednesday, it was the big one: The passage of the 2024-2027 multiyear budget! Continue reading “This Week at Council: Royal City Mission Saved (For Now) and The Budget” →

LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for November 28, 2023

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The first of two big meeting this week1 You can click here for the amended agendas from City Hall, and you can click here for the Politico preview. For the complete blow-by-blow of today’s council meeting, you can follow along on Twitter, or follow the tweets below. You can also watch the City’s own live-stream of the meeting here. Continue reading “LIVE BLOG: City Council Meeting for November 28, 2023” →

City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the Meeting on November 28?

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This last meeting of the month is not the last meeting of the month in November. No, after this meeting there’s still the multiyear budget decision meeting the very next day, but on this night, there’s some relatively lighter matters to consider. Among them are the ratification of this month’s Committee of the Whole agenda, some new appointments and a couple of new motions from members of council. Continue reading “City Council Preview – What’s on the Agenda for the Meeting on November 28?” →

Guthrie Drops Gimmicks for Serious Talk at State of the City

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Over 850 people made their way to the Delta Hotel on Stone Road for the annual winter ritual of hearing the mayor talk. The Chamber of Commerce’s State of the City event for 2023 had the usual aspirational statements and hopeful outlook about the future, but it also came with a warning about the tough times ahead and the need to work together as a community to meet the challenges were all familiar with by now. Continue reading “Guthrie Drops Gimmicks for Serious Talk at State of the City” →

Advisory Committee Lays Out More Specific Plans for Downtown

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It happened in the middle of the fall election campaign, but the new Strategic Advisory Group on downtown Guelph released a series of short to long-term goals that they hope to achieve to create a safer and more welcoming downtown core. The City of Guelph released a new update on Thursday saying that their aspirations have started to take shape with more formal directions, a “high-level, tactical roadmap to achieving the objectives” if you will. Continue reading “Advisory Committee Lays Out More Specific Plans for Downtown” →

Advisory Group Sets Six Priorities For Homelessness and Downtown Issues

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In the midst of an election where housing affordability, homelessness and mental health and addition issues are all on the frontburner, the City of Guelph is announcing some direction. Following up on a July vote by the current city council to approve a new Strategic Advisory Group on issues affecting downtown Guelph, the group itself has now announced its six strategic priorities to tackle those problems. Continue reading “Advisory Group Sets Six Priorities For Homelessness and Downtown Issues” →

RECAP: Wellington County Social Services Committee Meeting – September 14, 2022

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After an emergency meeting in July, the Social Services Committee of Wellington County held their regular September meeting in their usual place, the Guthrie Room at the Administrative Building. Topics included more funding to provide more service through Royal City Mission, the continued offloading crunch at Guelph General Hospital and developments around $10/day childcare in the region. Let’s dive into the recap… Continue reading “RECAP: Wellington County Social Services Committee Meeting – September 14, 2022” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #334 – Moving the Needle Downtown

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When you think about helping Guelph’s most vulnerable downtown, you think of Chalmers. They’ve been doing it for decades, and they’ve continued to do it though good economic times and bad. While the politicians look for policy and funding remedies, the good people at Chalmers are on the frontlines of the issue every day, so how do they see issues of poverty, homelessness, and mental health as they currently stand downtown? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #334 – Moving the Needle Downtown” →

Over 200 Advocacy Groups Demand Immediate Increase to Social Assistance

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A coalition of 230 social services and community groups have called on the Provincial government and Premier Doug Ford to double Ontario Works (OW) and Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) rates. In an open letter, the group says that current crises around poverty, homelessness and mental health can all be tied to years of under-funding in social services, and doubling the rates would be a good start to begin a redress. Continue reading “Over 200 Advocacy Groups Demand Immediate Increase to Social Assistance” →