A temporary structured encampment may be on its way to Guelph after all.
A proposal for a community of tiny homes within the city will be reviewed by County of Wellington officials, as directed by the joint social services committee on Wednesday afternoon.
The results of that review are to be presented to Guelph city council on July 16 for information, with the final decision resting with County of Wellington council. The joint social services committee includes elected officials from the city and the county, which provides housing programs on behalf of the city.
“If we didn’t have a problem, then I wouldn’t have used the mayoral direction to bring this forward,” explained Guelph mayor Cam Guthrie, who, in February, ordered city staff to look into the idea of setting up a structured encampment run by the city.
Staff came back with a recommendation last month not to do it, citing budget pressures and the fact housing is outside the city’s mandate. In turn, city council opted to forward the concept on to the joint social services committee for consideration, with a specific request to review a proposal for a community-led initiative from the Guelph Tiny Homes Coalition (GTHC).
It’s that proposal county officials will now review.
“There’s folks that will be out in the cold this winter if we don’t do anything,” coalition member Mike Marcolongo told the committee. “Lives will be lost.”
The GTHC proposes a community of 25 to 50 tiny homes be established on an undetermined site, with shared kitchen, washroom and laundry areas, along with the provision of health, mental health and other wrap-around services residents may need.
Though much of the cost would be raised through community donations and volunteer work, Marcelongo indicated $500,000 in operational money would be needed, though some of that could come from Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program shelter allowances for residents.
During Wednesday’s meeting, numerous delegates spoke out in support of the tiny homes initiative, including the CEOs for the Canadian Mental Health Association of Waterloo Wellington, Guelph Community Health Centre, Stonehenge Therapeutic Community and Guelph General Hospital.
“We’re not looking for perfection, we’re really looking for progress,” CMHA’s Helen Fishburn said, noting the CEOs stand as “one united health team” in the community. “We are nearing another winter and we desperately need progress.”
GCHC’s Melissa Kwiatkowski acknowledged there is a cost to running a project such as this.
“There are costs associated with doing nothing as well,” Kwiatkowski said, noting agency workers can spend “a lot of time” looking for people in need to offer services to, and a community of tiny homes would largely allow those efforts to be consolidated.
“We at the hospital are often at the receiving end of what doesn’t work in the system,” added Mark Walton of GGH. “If we don’t take care of people in place, they might end up in our emergency department and that’s probably the worst place for them to be receiving care – we don’t want them to get sick and our focus is to avoid that.”
