City seeks public input on new 10-Year Housing and Homelessness Plan

CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

If the first public open house for the City of Stratford’s new 10-Year Housing and Homelessness Plan proved anything, its that solving the national housing crisis locally will take all heads working together.

The open house was held in Stratford on Aug. 12 to elicit public feedback on the new plan. As Kim McElroy, social services director with the city, said at the meeting, the dialogue that occurred that afternoon will shape the region’s response to the homelessness and housing crisis.

“Let's work collaboratively,” McElroy said. “Work towards building a more inclusive future where every individual in our community has a place to call home.”

The 10-Year Housing and Homelessness Plan for Stratford, Perth County and St. Marys was introduced in 2014. It provided a series of recommendations divided into five strategic priority areas: coordination and collaboration, data gathering and sharing, affordable housing options, eviction and homelessness prevention and homelessness reduction.

This time around, there are four frameworks being targeted by the plan: ending homelessness through innovative strategies and sustained efforts, creating attainable housing options, sustaining community housing and addressing diversity of needs.

Discussions were hosted at four tables that afternoon, one for each of the points city staff wish to explore in this new plan. Members of the public were encouraged to go from table to table, giving their ideas, thoughts and worries and discussing them with other members of the public.

At the sustaining community housing table, for example, the public discussed the pros and cons of a shelter system, or lack thereof. Many Stratford residents have lamented the lack of a suitable shelter in the city, though some – like United Way executive director Ryan Erb – was hesitant about the idea. The city currently uses motels and hotels for providing emergency housing, something that Erb said is quite strategic.

“At least in my experience, it's able to expand and contract based on the need,” Erb explained. “…The hotel system is actually better than a large shelter. They have safety, there's more security, privacy, all those things.”

Community member and housing advocate Jason Davis, later in the afternoon, disagreed, when the topic was brought up with a new group of residents.

“From people I know that used to be homeless and were addicted to drugs … for them it was two weeks of having a good place to do drugs. I’m not saying we should stop it. We should definitely have that until something else comes around, but its not great.

“My point is just that we need that first emergency shelter, right?” Davis went on to say. “Everything else is great, but when we're looking at a $3 million social services budget, and we're allocating $2.9 million of it before we even start the year, because that's just maintaining the services we're already doing, it's going to be real hard to start looking down those steps of care over the next 10 years.”

City staff were busy at work at the tables, compiling the various and sometimes opposing points being made by community members. As said numerous times that afternoon, all points were valid and worth discussing.

Separate from the 10-year plan currently being developed, the city will soon also develop a new program to address long-term housing pressures.

As announced on July 28, the city received $120,000 in federal funding from the Canadian Alliance to End Homeless (CAEH), through the Homelessness Reduction Innovation Fund (HRIF). The funds will go to designing, implementing and evaluating the project, which will target individuals experiencing homelessness who require a moderate or low level of support to achieve housing stability.

As John Ritz, the city’s homelessness and housing stability supervisor, said, Stratford was one of the first communities to receive and announce this funding.

“Ideally, this will make a difference in Stratford, but I think the whole point of the project is really looking at community driven solutions, and I think this is also part of the Canadian Alliance to End Homeless’ goal – how can we potentially use this to help communities across Canada?”

Ritz further elaborated that the alliance will take the data from various communities successful in their applications to see what projects were successful, and then to create an appropriate wider response to the housing crisis in the nation.

Ritz added that the department is excited to get started on the project, though did not have further details on it. More information will be available when the project is officially announced.

More open houses on the 10-year plan are to follow the Stratford meeting in other area municipalities. St. Marys hosts one on Aug. 20 and Listowel on Aug. 21.

A survey is also available until Aug. 22 and can be found at https://engagestratford.ca/housing-and-homelessness-plan.