Fail fast— make corrections— move forward: Mayor Morgan’s unvarnished take on rollout of homelessness strategy

Some frank talk by London Mayor Josh Morgan may be aimed at managing community expectations for London’s upcoming Whole of Community Response to Homelessness ahead of a series of public meetings.

On Wednesday, Morgan co-hosted a session in front of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference, along with Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson, about their communities’ similar homeless strategies that combine low-barrier service hubs and supportive housing units.

Morgan acknowledged the political courage of city council to back a strategy that is still evolving.

“We have to accept that we are playing a game that’s never been played before,” admitted Morgan in a matter-of-fact tone. “That means we are going to make a mistake. And we are going to get criticized, fairly heavily at times, for that mistake.”

The first two to five low barrier service hubs will open before the end of this year.

The locations will be chosen by council after a Request for Proposals bidding process concludes next month.

The mayor told the audience his expectation is that the strategy will operate with enough flexibility to quickly correct problems that arise, “Fail fast, correct, and take the next step.”

Next week, a series of public engagement sessions will begin in neighbourhoods across the city.

After the session with AMO members, the mayor acknowledged that communication about the Whole of Community Response to Homelessness has left a lot of Londoners feeling uncertain.

“There’s a lot of assumptions, and there’s not a lot of information out there, so it is incumbent upon us in this next phase of the process to make sure there is a lot of very clear, very accurate, very accessible information out there,” he told CTV News.

Developed during a series of closed-door summit meetings and by roundtables of hand-picked stakeholders, the strategy proposes 12-15 low barrier service hubs (two to five this year) and 600 supportive housing units (100 this year).

The blunt tone of Morgan’s remarks continued as he spoke about a need for ongoing communication and responsiveness as hubs and supportive housing open across the city.

“People need to understand that we will not get things perfect, but we will work very quickly and diligently to correct any mistakes [and] to make improvements,” committed Morgan.

He added the deaths of 200 Londoners experiencing homelessness over the past three years, and the broader impacts the crisis is having on the community, demand urgent action.

“Everybody wants us to do something, we have a difference of opinion on where that might be, what that might look like, and I would say a little bit of apprehension about the unknown. So let’s work through this together,” said Morgan.

The cost of the Whole of Community Response to Homelessness is estimated at $247.5 million, including $2 million in capital costs to create each hub, plus up to $2.7 million each year in operating costs.

Currently, the city has sufficient operating funds to open just two hubs this year.

During the AMO conference, the mayor took part in lobbying the province for $8.1 million each year to operate three additional hub locations.

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

In-person engagement dates include:

• Wednesday, August 30, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
  South London Community Centre – 1119 Jalna Blvd
• Thursday, August 31, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
  Medway Community Centre – 119 Sherwood Forest Square
• Tuesday, September 5, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
  Byron Optimist Community Centre – 1308 Norman Ave.
• Wednesday, September 6, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
  East Lions Community Centre – 1731 Churchill Ave.
• Thursday, September 7, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
  Carling Heights Optimist Community Centre – 656 Elizabeth St.