Faced with gaps in daytime shelter services, city council is looking to create more space for programming to help unhoused individuals. But if Mayor Cam Guthrie gets his way, it won’t be going downtown.
“What are our downtowns supposed to be for? For me, it is supposed to be an economic driver for our community. It’s supposed to be a thriving, business, entrepreneurial centre, a public space and tourism,” said Guthrie. “What’s happening, not just in Guelph but across many other communities, is social services tend to be attracted to downtown cores and they start really taking up a lot of space.
“The where and the location is an honourable discussion to be had, I think.”
During Tuesday’s committee of the whole meeting, city council gave its initial and unanimous approval to a plan that would see a request for proposals issued for daytime shelter services, along with a request for the mayor to include funding of those services in the city budget.
If ultimately approved – council is expected to consider formally approving the motion on May 27 – the County of Wellington will be asked to chip in 10 per cent of the cost, which city staff said is the standard breakdown for funding social programs.
Should the county refuse, the initiative would be 100 per cent paid for through the City of Guelph.
“There are currently considerable gaps in daytime services for persons experiencing homelessness,” explains a city staff report. “Persons experiencing homelessness may face challenges accessing basic needs, such as daytime access to washrooms, showers, consistent access to three meals a day, and a place to sit or rest that offers safety and dignity, warming and cooling options (outside of current services provided by the city during emergency cold and hot weather events), as well as storage solutions for their belongings.”
This wouldn’t solve the issue of homelessness in the community, staff note, stressing it would require a collaborative effort from all levels of government to create affordable, supportive and transitional housing, along with other supports.
It’s not clear what the cost of daytime shelter would be. The staff recommendation calls for 12 daily hours of service, over a two-year span.
Coun. Rodrigo Goller of Ward 2 first mentioned the idea of eliminating downtown’s “main strips” from consideration, explaining he’s heard concerns from area residents as well as the Downtown Guelph Business Association (DGBA).
“How can we do it in a way that’s flexible, that still gives an opportunity for organizations to provide the services in the vicinity of the downtown,” he said. “We all acknowledge that the services that folks access are in our downtown core.”
“I think it’s great we are exploring options for daytime shelter. It is paramount that we look at all options for supporting people in need,” added Coun. Carly Klassen, also of Ward 2, who sits on the DGBA. “We have, I think over the last 20 years, been putting more and more social services in our cores, which is great because they’re centralized and they provide a really important place for people to get those services that they need.
“But our downtown cores are also places where people in our communities live and work. I think that we need to make sure that people are working together and that people feel safe and welcome no matter who they are.”
Though the motion passed unanimously, not everyone expressed support for eliminating the downtown core.
“I have a lot of concerns with that,” Coun. Linda Busuttil said of limiting locations. “Main strips, to me, is quite a broad brush.”
Coun. Erin Caton asked how many bars there are downtown and taxpayers fork over for related policing, though that information wasn’t immediately available.
Coun. Ken Yee Chew was absent from the meeting and Coun. Dominique O’Rourke, who is Guelph’s MP-elect, didn’t participate in discussions and voting, though her resignation doesn’t come into effect until May 14.
