Council committee backs criteria for homeless hubs, public input afterwards

Five hours after a special committee meeting began, criteria to locate and operate hubs for Londoners experiencing homelessness received the support of most council members.

Mayor Josh Morgan opened debate with a surprise motion calling for, “a process where we continuously, in an ongoing way, get feedback from the public.”

 

Morgan’s public input proposal included:

• seeking engagement through the Get Involved London website
• hosting public input sessions
• reporting feedback to council before first 3 to 5 hub locations/agencies are considered by council (September)

If the criteria for service hubs is formally approved by council on Tuesday, civic administration will launch a competitive procurement process seeking agencies to operate three to five hub locations.

“There is nothing stopping us from having two parallel tracks here where we continue to engage and consult the public, and we let the RFP (Request for Proposals) go out and have people bid to it,” argued Morgan.

The mayor suggested that the feedback could be considered prior to council’s evaluation of the locations/agencies responding to the RFP.

However, City Manager Lynne Livingstone warned that once the procurement process begins accepting bids, cancelling the RFP on the basis of public feedback could have consequences

“We are seeking direction tonight to proceed with that (RFP) process,” said Livingstone. “Once we are in that process, I think it would be an expectation of proponents [bidders] that we would be moving forward.”

She added, “If council chose to end an RFP there would be considerations that you would wish to hear from both finance and legal on that.”

The mayor’s motion was temporarily sidelined by a motion to refer the proposed hub criteria to a formal public participation meeting in August.

Coun. Paul Van Meerbergen noting that the public had less than a week to read and comment on the lengthy report.

“I’m out there trying to sell the concept, and it’s not going very well,” admitted Coun. Peter Cuddy. “I think people do need more information.”

Coun. Susan Stevenson suggested council, “Say to the people who have worked on this for eight months, we get a little bit of time to digest this now.”

But most councillors stressed the need to avoid delay and get the first hubs open before the end of this year.

“I do not think that delaying this serves any good,” argued Counc. Hadleigh McAlister. “It pushes us further into the winter and I think it will put people’s lives at risk.”

Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis was blunt in his evaluation of public feedback on the matter, “I don’t see the value of delaying that next step for the sake of filling the gallery (in council chambers) with people to hear why ‘not in my neighbourhood’.”

The referral to a future public participation meeting lost 4-11.

The committee then resumed consideration of Morgan’s motion.

Despite previously discouraging politicians from being permitted to participate in the development of the Whole of Community Response to Homelessness, the mayor now feels the time is right.

An amended motion proposed adding the mayor and budget chair Coun.Elizabeth Peloza to its Strategic Accountability Table.

The hubs are part of the estimated $247.5 - million Whole of Community Response to Homelessness (up to 15 hubs, 600 supportive housing units).

Each hub is estimated to cost $2 million (capital) plus up to $2.7 million each year in operating costs.

Each hub will offer 25 to 35 beds, within about 8,000 to 10,0000 square feet of multi-use space with a side-entry off the street, fenced private space, greenspace, commercial kitchen and laundry facilities.

A majority of the committee voted to support the mayor’s proposal including the new public input process.

“We will do continuous engagement. We’re going to provide constant feedback into the process every step of the way. This is just one step,” Morgan committed.

Council will consider finalizing the committee recommendations at its meeting on Tuesday, July 26.