Councillors off to Texas for homelessness solution
Ioannoni, Lococo interested in learning more about U.S. program
Two Niagara Falls city councillors plan to go to Austin, Texas this fall to learn more about a one-of-a-kind model addressing chronic homelessness in that community.
Carolynn Ioannoni and Lori Lococo will report back to council, and their findings could help create a homelessness action plan for Niagara Falls.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, Ioannoni spoke about the Community First! Village, a 51-acre masterplanned area in Austin that provides homes for the homeless and other amenities such as a medical facility, playgrounds and an outdoor movie theatre.
A symposium is scheduled for Nov. 5-7 in Austin where attendees can learn more about the inner workings of the village.
Council approved Ioannoni’s request to send her and Lococo. Both councillors have been trying to find ways to deal with the homelessness issue in Niagara Falls.
Her motion also encourages Niagara Regional staff to attend. The Region administers homelessness programs in Niagara.
Ioannoni said efforts to address homelessness across the region are “clearly not working” and “if we can find something to do that’s outside of the box that might work … we really need to take a serious look.”
The veteran politician said she and Lococo sat down with representatives from agencies in Niagara responsible for creating a homelessness strategy, and “unfortunately, they’re at a loss on what to do also.”
“We’ve got a lot of great minds sitting at that table but what they’re doing now is not working and … we’re looking at more (provincial government funding) cuts. They’re already cutting the programs that they had to initiate for new programs.”
Ioannoni said homelessness is not only a problem in big cities such as Toronto or Vancouver.
“When we’re stepping over our homeless in Niagara Falls, I think we need an action plan.”
This year, a temporary overnight shelter at St. Andrew's United Church in Niagara Falls — part of a two-year pilot project — ran from November through April. It offered cots in the church chapel and was scheduled to close at the end of March, but local restaurant owner Angela Peebles — who prepares meals for some of the city’s homeless — urged council to keep the shelter
open longer as she works to find a permanent drop-in space for them.Council agreed to a onemonth extension.
Peebles said she has witnessed the “homelessness crisis” in Niagara Falls during the past 10 months, spending time with people who are experiencing it.
“The situation is much worse than I had thought. The Out of the Cold shelter was barely scratching the surface,” she said. “We’ve had well over 150 people use the drop-in centre and the majority of those folks are, have been or will be experiencing homelessness.
“They’re literally sleeping outside in tents, stairwells, abandoned vehicles, couch surfing, sleeping on floors — paying ridiculous amounts of money for motel rooms. A few live in boarding houses or houses shared by many people. We have the YWCA, the Candlelight and the Nightlight shelters here but when those are full, which is most of the time, then folks have nowhere in Niagara Falls that they can go for sleep.”
On Tuesday, council also asked staff to report back on possible places the city’s homeless can more comfortably sleep until November.