Council’s housing inaction is baffling
On Jan. 19, the Hamilton Alliance for Tiny Shelters group made a presentation to city council. This was one of nine presentations to council and standing committees over the past 11 months by HATS, each of which included substantial information about the tiny cabins approach to reducing homelessness and the severe problems that result from being homeless.
At this meeting the well-prepared people from HATS answered many questions and provided councillors with a great deal of information. The responses by councillors were not very positive, constantly raising issues that would impede action.
As part of the presentation, a number of questions were asked to which HATS members didn’t have adequate time to respond.
To Coun. Maureen Wilson’s question requesting HATS plan for how it would deal with the existing tent encampment on the Cathedral Park site:
If the Cathedral site were chosen, HATS could build the cabin community in a designated area of the park and erect fences to enclose the community for the safety of the cabin residents. HATS would not address this problem of the existing encampment. That is something that has developed under the purview of the City of Hamilton and it is the city’s responsibility to deal with it. As is evident from the Superior Court decision in Waterloo Region last week, the City of Hamilton may have serious problems closing these down.
Coun. Alex Wilson commented that this appears to be a charitable model for addressing this issue. Agreed. Because the city has not addressed this problem, there doesn’t appear to be another strategy in the immediate time frame. Funding privately through charitable organizations is the only way to get this done.
Coun. Alex Wilson commented that the promise of moving to longterm housing for people in the cabins won’t work if supportive housing isn’t built.
Agreed. Long-term permanent supportive housing is a city responsibility, supported by groups like Indwell. I strongly encourage the city to do everything possible to move these ahead quickly. But at the present time, Indwell and similar groups are being held up by the city. But in the meantime, the tiny homes could provide housing for people, preventing them from dying on the street, and starting them on a path to decent accommodation when it becomes available.
Coun. Tammy Hwang commented that this has taken too long already and wondered what will happen if it is rejected?
Agreed. It has taken too long, but HATS can move ahead quickly and provide cabins.
Coun. Cameron Kroetsch questioned the use of the Barton-Tiffany property in his ward, saying that there are lots of residents in the area and asking what consultation has been done?
Further consultation with the neighbours is needed. This is an area of Hamilton that has suffered greatly over the past 10 years or so years.
The city bought substantial portions of the land and then tore down the houses and businesses, in a failed effort to move Tim Hortons Field to the area. The city has also closed the low-income housing district not far away on James Street North in 2015, displacing almost 100 families, while promising to rebuild. This hasn’t happened and won’t in the near future.
So it is not a surprise that the neighbourhood is concerned and wants to be consulted. But there are many factors that suggest this is an appropriate site. This is vacant land, owned by the city, some distance to other residential neighbours.
Coun. Tom Jackson raised an interesting question, saying that there hasn’t been a passionate reception of the HATS idea, asking why hasn’t there been a community buy-in?
My response would be to ask Tom and the other councillors why they have not supported this strategy? Why have they raised every barrier possible? Why are they not providing positive leadership, that recognizes their responsibility to provide services that protect the lives of homeless people in Hamilton?
The HATS program has already made nine presentations to city council and provided 27 reports with extensive information and questions answered.
It’s extremely hard to understand why there has been so little leadership by the city in addressing this serious problem while hundreds of people have donated time and money to move forward.