Church warned zoning doesn’t permit soup kitchen that feeds hundreds of homeless Londoners
Ark Aid Street Mission has been given a deadline to comply with municipal zoning rules, or its homeless drop-in space will be forced to cease services inside a church.
“A zoning bylaw could shut down the only drop-in space that currently opens to 20 or more people in our community,” explains Sarah Campbell, executive director of Ark Aid.
The organization relocated to First Baptist Church on Richmond Row, behind the Victoria Park bandshell, during the renovation of its building in Old East Village.
The drop-in space offers dinner seven days a week, as well as lunch and afternoon drop-in space complete with showers, clothing and links to support services.
It serves between 300 and 400 Londoners experiencing homelessness.
An encampment outside First Baptist Church in London, Ont., on Friday, Sept. 23, 2022. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)
“It’s an effort to do what we can, but we haven’t been able to do enough,” says Pastor Alan Roberts of First Baptist Church as he struggles to holds back tears. “It aches that we are being told we can’t be ourselves.”
“It’s so important,” adds Yvan Boudreault who has lunch every day in the church basement. “People would starve without this place.”
A notice sent by London City Hall to First Baptist Church trustees indicates that the church is zoned as a “place of worship,” but the current lease as a drop-in requires it to be zoned as an “assembly hall.”
CTV News London reached out for comment, but no one from civic administration was made available for an interview to explain the decision to issue a deadline.
An emailed statement to CTV News London explains, “Ark Aid is leasing the space and providing the services as a separate entity, they are not operating as a place of worship, which is a permitted use, but rather as an assembly hall, which is not.”
The city suggests three solutions:
- The church can assume care and control of the services
- The church can pursue a zoning amendment
- Ark Aid can find an alternate location
“Churches and organizations partner all the time to provide services,” responds Campbell.
The city’s decision to strictly enforce the zoning by-law is having a chilling effect at other churches that have stepped up during London, Ont.'s homelessness crisis.
“My own Anglican community, we have churches that put on breakfasts and dinners for hundreds of people once a week,” adds Rev. Kevin George of St. Aidan’s Anglican Church. “Are they going to be getting the next notices saying they are not [zoned as] ‘assembly halls’ so they can’t have people in to eat?”
Many merchants and residents along Richmond Row have expressed concern in recent weeks about the large number of people living in Victoria Park and along the business district since Ark Aid’s arrival.
The city says its enforcement of the zoning by-law is based on a number of complaints.
“We really can’t give in to this not-in-my-backyard mentality that seems to be rising up in this city right now,” warns George.
A rezoning application would cost $12,000 and takes three to six months.
Violating the zoning by-law can result in a fine up to $25,000 for a first offence.
Ark Aid Street Mission’s entrance inside First Baptist Church in London, Ont., on Friday, Sept. 23, 2022. (Daryl Newcombe/CTV News London)
The mayor does not have authority to intervene in by-law enforcement, but Ed Holder wants to see the situation resolved.
“I think there can be a solution. It’s my sincere hope if we keep our focus on what matters most,” Holder tells CTV News London. “You are measured as a community by how you take care of your most vulnerable.”
The renovation to Ark Aid Street Mission’s building in Old East Village is on hold until another $1 million can be fundraised for design changes that meet current building codes.
Recently, Pastor Joshua Lawrence of First St. Andrew’s United Church, Rev. Kevin George of St. Aidan’s Anglican Church, and Ark Aid Street Mission sent an invitation to over 100 churches and faith-based groups to meet on Sept. 27 to discuss supporting a winter response homelessness this year.
The city has agreed to extend the deadline from Oct. 4 to Oct. 20.
If a solution isn’t found before the deadline, Campbell says Ark Aid Street Mission will seek to find other ways to fulfill its commitment to aiding Londoners experiencing homelessness.
“It’s difficult when the city is saying to the community to come together with a plan for winter, come together to serve this population, and then cuts us off at the knees,” she says.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.