Homeless drop-in programs get two month lifeline, councillors unhappy about latest funding request

Council has extended additional temporary funding to a pair of drop-in programs that were slated to close at the end of this month.

At a special meeting on Tuesday, council members debated providing the additional $270,000 to extend drop-in services at London Cares (602 Queens Ave.) and SafeSpace London (679 Dundas St.) until May 31.

“We said there would be no band aids. We said there would be a plan. We said trust us [because] the experts are involved here. [But] this is a band aid,” argued Coun. Susan Stevenson.

Stevenson and Coun. Jerry Pribil initially put forward a motion that would have only extended funding to London Cares and ensure the pending closure of SafeSpace, a shelter that supports women who do sex work.

The motion failed despite Stevenson’s insistence that the temporary women’s shelter at the corner of Dundas Street and Lyle Street should not be located in the heart of the Old East Village business district.

“I think if we are going to extend [services at] London Cares, I think it makes sense to extend SafeSpace and apply the same fairness to both agencies,” said Coun. Skylar Franke.

SafeSpace currently provides 15 daytime drop-in spaces and 15 overnight spaces through Winter Response funding that was initially set to run out March 31.

In February, CTV News revealed that London Cares would also have to close its daytime drop-in program at 602 Queens Ave. where 50 to 75 people each day can take a shower, do laundry, and address other basic needs.

Coun. Corrine Rahman noted that the majority of the funding request by London Cares was related to private security guards, “Look at these security costs as they continue to escalate. Fifty-six percent of this expense is security.”

Other members of council expressed disappointment that the funding extension wasn’t included in a recent two-year contract for shelter services.

“The ask is from London Cares, who just received a very, very substantial increase in a two-year contract agreement. To hear that these services were not envisioned as part of this, while the Salvation Army’s were, is extremely frustrating to me,” said Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis.

However, the mayor advocated for the funding based on staff’s assessment that the drop-in programs are well used and providing people with their basic needs.

“We made a good investment here. We can continue that good investment another couple of months. We can transition to the next phase,” Josh Morgan urged.

In 2023, the London Cares drop-in program was visited 20,564 times by 1,021 different individuals who received

• 68,877 meals provided by the sisters of St. Joseph’s meal program
• 3343 showers
• 1168 loads of laundry

From January through November 2023, Safe Space supported unsheltered women with

• 3,728 washroom visits
• 1,303 loads of laundry
• 7,279 times food was provided
• 7,303 visits for basic needs

A majority of council supported each of the funding requests.

Afterwards, the mayor said a comprehensive encampment strategy is being developed for council consideration in June that should reduce the number of last minute funding requests.

“That will put us in a much better position to move beyond these short-term, temporary, emergency measures that come without a lot of notice, and are usually at crisis points of the year when we know people are trying to escape from the cold or the heat,” Morgan told CTV News.