A report on emergency housing in Chatham-Kent, which generated a total of 24 deputations from the public, was sent back to staff at Monday night’s, March 7, 2022, virtual Chatham-Kent Council meeting.
April Rietdyk, general manager of community human services, provided an update to Council when the item came up on the Council agenda.
“I think our team has done significant work in trying to tackle the homelessness crisis that we face here in Chatham-Kent,” Rietdyk said.
“As of late Thursday, we received some comments and some other alternative solutions that came into our office from a couple of community members.”
Rietdyk said, at Council’s direction, her team was willing to “explore those alternative options” in more detail and bring back a report with recommendations.
She said the new report would contain details from the previous report, which was on the Council agenda on Monday, and would also further explore the partnership with Hope Haven.
“That’s a very important partnership to us within employment and social services and community human services,” she said.
“We would like the opportunity to explore those options that have been presented to us late last week.”
Rietdyk said when her team was doing their sourcing, looking at Municipal and private buildings, along with land, they thought they left “no stone unturned.
“But we are certainly willing to take another look. We do feel that Council should have all of the information available to them and all the information we have to move forward. These options that have been presented to us were not available at the time and we do thank some members of the community for coming forward. We hope to get back as quickly as possible.”
After Rietdyk’s comments, Chatham Councillor Karen Kirkwood-Whyte entered a successful motion to refer the report back to administration to further investigate options brought to administration’s attention late last week.
Councillor Kirkwood-Whyte’s motion directed staff to return to Council with a report on or before April 4, 2022.
“It’s important that we hear what these other people have to say,” Councillor Kirkwood-Whyte said.
“If they have options that might serve us well, we should hear them.”
The original staff report has listed a number of recommendations from staff, including:
– The current emergency shelter services relocate from the Travelodge to the Hope Haven shelter by May 1, 2022 for a period ending on or before March 31, 2023 at which time, full operations of the emergency shelter will be transferred to Hope Haven.
– Staff return to Council prior to the transfer of the emergency shelter service responsibility to Hope Haven to provide a situational update and any further recommendations.
– Hope Haven be approved to receive up to $100,000 in one time funding for necessary renovations.
– Hope Haven be approved to receive up to $100,000 annually for up to three years, as a sole source service provider of day programming at the current location.
– Partnerships be sought with other service providers to build a HUB model that connects people with the services that they need in one central location.
The full report can be read, here.
