November 23, 2021, at 4:00 PM

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1.   Disclosures of Pecuniary Interest

That it BE NOTED that Councillor M. Salih disclosed a pecuniary interest in clause 2.3 of this Report, having to do with an Agreement for London and Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, by indicating that he is employed by the federal government.

2.   Consent

Moved by S. Lewis

Seconded by J. Fyfe-Millar

That Items 2.1, 2.2, 2.4, 2.5 and 2.9 BE APPROVED.

Motion Passed (6 to 0)

2.1   6th Report of the Community Safety and Crime Prevention Advisory Committee

2021-10-28 CSCP Report

Moved by S. Lewis

Seconded by J. Fyfe-Millar

That the 6th Report of the Community Safety and Crime Prevention Advisory Committee, from its meeting held on October 28, 2021, BE RECEIVED.

Motion Passed

2.2   9th Report of the London Housing Advisory Committee

2021-11-10 LHAC Report

Moved by S. Lewis

Seconded by J. Fyfe-Millar

That the 9th Report of the London Housing Advisory Committee, from its meeting held on November 10, 2021, BE RECEIVED.

Motion Passed

2.4   RFT21-112 People and the City Monument Restoration and Source of Financing

2021-11-23 SR CPSC People and the City Monumnet Restoration and Source of Financing

Moved by S. Lewis

Seconded by J. Fyfe-Millar

That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Neighbourhood and Community-Wide Services, the following actions be taken with respect to the staff report, dated November 23, 2021, with respect to RFT21-112 related to People and the City Monument Restoration and Source of Financing:

a)    the bid submitted by 818185 Ontario Inc., P.O. Box 1660 Brantford, Ontario N3T 5V7, at its tendered price of $474,000 (excluding HST) BE ACCEPTED; it being noted that the bid submitted by 818185 Ontario Inc. was the lowest bid received and meets the City’s specifications and requirements in all areas;

b)    the financing for this project BE APPROVED in accordance with the “Sources of Financing Report”, as appended to the above-noted staff report;

c)    the Civic Administration BE AUTHORIZED to undertake all the administrative acts that are necessary in connection with this purchase;

d)    the approvals given, herein, BE CONDITIONAL upon the Corporation entering into a formal contract for this purchase; and,

e)    the Mayor and the City Clerk BE AUTHORIZED to execute any contract, statement of work or other documents, if required, to give effect to these recommendations. (2021-F11)

Motion Passed

2.5   Sports Court Donation by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Foundation

2021-11-23 SR- MLSE Court Donation report

Moved by S. Lewis

Seconded by J. Fyfe-Millar

That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Environment and Infrastructure, the following actions be taken with respect to the staff report, dated November 23, 2021, related to a Sports Court Donation by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Foundation:

a)    the donation of a multi-use sports court by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Foundation BE ACCEPTED, as per the City’s Donation Policy; it being noted that the value of the donation is estimated to be $250,000;

b)    the hiring of ERA Architects to design and carry out contract administration for the construction of the project by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Foundation, at their expense, BE APPROVED, as per Section 14.4 (i) of the Procurement of Goods and Services Policy as a Single Source contract, SS21-45;

c)    the Civic Administration BE AUTHORIZED to enter into a formal agreement with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Foundation and establish a capital project budget based on the final amount of the donation, subject to the approval of the above-noted donation and determining a location for the multi-use court; and,

d)    Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Foundation BE THANKED for their generous donation to support London’s youth and their physical and mental health and social engagement. (2021-M12/R05)

Motion Passed

2.9   Parking Services - Service Integration and Digital Modernization Review

2021-11-23-SR-CPSC - City of London Parking Services Integration and Digital Modernization

2021-11-23-SR-City of London Parking Services Integration and Modernization - Final Report

Moved by S. Lewis

Seconded by J. Fyfe-Millar

That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Planning and Economic Development, the staff report, dated November 23, 2021, with respect to Parking Services – Service Integration and Digital Modernization Review, BE RECEIVED. (2021-H08/T02)

Motion Passed

2.3   Agreement for London and Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

2021-11-23- SR-Agreement for LMLIP with IRCC (002)

PDF - Contribution Agreement with Schedules 1-4 - City of London - SDI

Moved by J. Fyfe-Millar

Seconded by S. Lewis

That the staff report, dated November 23, 2021, with respect to an Agreement for London and Middlesex Local Immigration Partnership with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada BE DEFERRED to the next meeting of the Community and Protective Services Committee. (2021-S15)

Motion Passed (5 to 0)

2.6   Housing Stability Services- Social Services Relief Fund Phase Four Allocations

2021-11-23 SR- CPSC Report FINAL SSRF 4 CPSC Report V1

Moved by E. Holder

Seconded by S. Lewis

That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Social and Health Development, the following actions be taken with respect to the staff report, dated November 23, 2021, related to Housing Stability Services and Social Services Relief Fund Phase Four Allocations:

a)    for COVID-19 operating agreement extensions, a funding increase extension BE APPROVED for the existing Purchase of Service Agreements at a total estimated increase of $987,165 (excluding HST), for the period of January 1, 2022 to March 31, 2022, to administer Housing Stability Services COVID-19 Response programs, as per The Corporation of the City of London Procurement Policy Section 20.3 e.ii, to the following existing agreements:

  •    The Ark Aid Street Mission, WISH to Be Home (SS21-29)

  •    London Cares Homeless Response Services COVID-19 Resting Spaces (SS21-29)

  •    The Salvation Army Centre of Hope Emergency Shelter (SS21-29)

  •    Services and supports through various providers (SS21-29), including minor retrofits at the YOU shelter;

b)    with respect to capital retrofits and upgrades, that the proposed revised attached by-law, as appended to the Added Agenda, BE INTRODUCED at the Municipal Council meeting to be held December 7, 2021, to:

i)    approve the standard form Loan Contribution Agreement, substantially in the form as appended to the above-noted by-law, as the standard form of agreement between the city and organizations to provide capital funding under the CHPI Social Services Relief Fund – Phase 4 to improve, retrofit, upgrade or acquire property for emergency shelters, transitional housing, congregate living spaces and supportive housing or other activities approved by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing;

ii)    delegate discretionary power to the Deputy City Manager, Social and Health Development, or written designates, to:

A)    insert the applicable required information into the above-noted standard form Loan Contribution Agreement;

B)    approve the agreement with the above-noted details; and,

C)    execute agreements which employ the above-noted form; it being noted that the exercise of such powers is consistent with the CHPI SSRF Program Guidelines and applicable agreements with the Province, and that the exercise of such powers does not require additional funding or is provided for in the City’s current budget, and that does not increase the indebtedness or contingent liabilities of The Corporation of the City of London, subject to prior review and approval by the Manager of Risk Management;

iii)    delegate discretionary power to the Deputy City Manager, Social and Health Development, or written designates, to authorize, approve and execute such further and other documents, including amending agreements, that may be required in furtherance of the City of London’s agreements with organizations that are consistent with the CHPI SSRF Program Guidelines and applicable agreements with the Province and requirements contained in the above-noted standard form Loan Contribution Agreement and that do not require additional funding or are provided for in the City’s current budget, and that do not increase the indebtedness or contingent liabilities of The Corporation of the City of London, subject to prior review and approval by the Manager of Risk Management;

c)    the Civic Administration BE AUTHORIZED to undertake all administrative acts which are necessary in relation to this matter;

d)    capital grant funding BE APPROVED for retrofits and upgrades for The Ark Aid Street Mission in the amount of $725,000;

e)    the approval given, herein, BE CONDITIONAL upon The Corporation of the City of London entering into and/or amending Purchase of Service Agreements and/or Contribution Agreement with Agencies outlined in Schedule 1 of the above-noted report, and is subject to a commitment of funding by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing under Community Homelessness Prevention Initiative and the Social Services Relief Fund Phase 4 Guidelines; and,

f)    Schedule 1 – Overview of SSRF Phase 4 Funding Allocations, as appended to the above-noted staff report, BE RECEIVED. (2021-S11/F11A)

Motion Passed (6 to 0)

2.7   Proposed Implementation of the “Roadmap to 3,000 Affordable Units” (Roadmap) Action Plan

11-23-2021 SR- CPSC London Housing Implementation Plan 3000 Distribution

11-23-2021 SR-LON03S Implementation Plan Final Report (FINAL Submitted) - Oct 22 21

Moved by E. Holder

Seconded by S. Lewis

That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Social and Health Development and Deputy City Manager, Planning and Economic Development, the following actions be taken with respect to the staff report, dated November 23, 2021, related to the Proposed Implementation of the “Roadmap to 3,000 Affordable Units” (Roadmap) Action Plan:

a)    the “Roadmap to 3,000 Affordable Units” (Roadmap), as appended to the above-noted staff report, BE RECEIVED and the Civic Administration BE DIRECTED to advance on the implementation action plan as outlined within the above-noted staff report;

b)    the Civic Administration BE DIRECTED to report back with any applicable policy changes for Council approval that will aide in the delivery of the action plan;

c)    the Civic Administration BE AUTHORIZED to carry out all necessary actions to establish a capital budget and corresponding funding sources for the Roadmap to 3,000 Affordable Units for the City of London for 2022 through 2026, as summarized in the above-noted report;

d)    the Civic Administration BE DIRECTED to release $5.0 million currently earmarked in the Economic Development Reserve Fund for the Back to the River – Forks of the Thames project and use this funding to support the implementation of the Roadmap action plan; and,

e)    the Civic Administration BE DIRECTED to temporarily fund the 2022 operating costs of this plan from the Operating Budget Contingency Reserve, and to bring a budget amendment business case to the 2023 Annual Budget Update and 2024-2027 Multi-Year Budget that establishes a permanent funding source for the portable benefits/rent supplements and ongoing resources required to support the Roadmap implementation plan;

it being noted that specific program design considerations will be further clarified through future reports to Committee and Council;

it being further noted that the presentation, dated November 23, 2021, as appended to the Added Agenda, and the verbal delegation from M. Wallace, London Development Institute, with respect to this matter, were received. (2021-S11)

Motion Passed (6 to 0)

Voting Record:

Moved by S. Lewis

Seconded by J. Fyfe-Millar

Motion to approve the delegation request by M. Wallace, London Development Institute, with respect to this matter.

Motion Passed (6 to 0)

Moved by E. Holder

Seconded by J. Fyfe-Millar

Motion to receive the verbal delegation from M. Wallace, London Development Institute, with respect to this matter.

Motion Passed (6 to 0)

2.8   Request for Funding from Vision SoHo Alliance for the Housing Development Project at the Old Victoria Hospital Lands

2021-11-23 SR Request for funding from Vision SoHo Alliance for the Housing Development Project

Moved by J. Fyfe-Millar

Seconded by S. Hillier

That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Planning and Economic Development, the following actions be taken with respect to the staff report, dated November 23, 2021, related to the Request for Funding from Vision SoHo Alliance for the Housing Development Project at the Old Victoria Hospital Lands:

a)     a conditional grant for $11,200,000 ($28,000/unit) BE APPROVED to provide up to 400 affordable housing units in the proposed development, subject to confirmation of the other sources of project financing, closing of the Purchase and Sale Agreement between Vision SoHo Alliance and the City of London for the subject lands and development of suitable Contribution Agreements between the parties;

b)     the Civic Administration BE DIRECTED to develop Contribution Agreements with Vision SoHo Alliance members, subject to submission of additional financial and project information from Vision SoHo Alliance;

c)     the proposed by-law, as appended to the above-noted staff report, BE INTRODUCED at the Municipal Council meeting to be held on December 7, 2021, to: 

i)    authorize and approve the City Treasurer and City Solicitor to approve the Contribution Agreement between The Corporation of the City of London and Vision SoHo Alliance members in an amount not to exceed $11,200,000.00 in the aggregate; and,

ii)    authorize the Mayor and the City Clerk to execute the above-noted Contribution Agreements; and,

d)     the financing for the conditional grant BE APPROVED, as set out in the Source of Financing Report, as appended to the above-noted staff report;

it being noted that a verbal delegation from S. Harris, Indwell/Vision SoHo Alliance, with respect to this matter, was received. (2021-F11/S11)

Motion Passed (6 to 0)

Voting Record:

Moved by S. Lewis

Seconded by S. Hillier

Motion to approve the delegation request from S. Harris, Indwell/Vision SoHo Alliance, with respect to this matter.

Motion Passed (6 to 0)

Moved by S. Lewis

Seconded by J. Fyfe-Millar

Motion to receive the verbal delegation from S. Harris, Indwell/Vision SoHo Alliance, with respect to this matter.

Motion Passed (6 to 0)

3.   Scheduled Items

None.

4.   Items for Direction

None.

5.   Deferred Matters/Additional Business

5.1   Deferred Matters List

CPSC DEFERRED MATTERS as at November 16 2021

Moved by S. Lewis

Seconded by J. Fyfe-Millar

That the Deferred Matters List for the Community and Protective Services Committee, as at November 16, 2021, BE RECEIVED.

Motion Passed (6 to 0)

5.2   (ADDED) 10th Report of the Animal Welfare Advisory Committee

2021-11-18 AWAC Report

Moved by S. Lewis

Seconded by J. Fyfe-Millar

That the following actions be taken with respect to the 10th Report of the Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, from its meeting held on November 18, 2021:

a)    the following actions be taken with respect to the Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (AWAC) Budget request related to Coyote Signs on City Parks:

i)     the transfer of $1,000.00 from the 2021 Animal Welfare Advisory Committee Budget allocation to the Parks Operations Fund BE APPROVED in order to procure new signs related to wild canids to be installed in City parks; and,

ii)    the communication, as appended to the Added Agenda, with respect to this matter, BE RECEIVED;

b)    the following actions be taken with respect to the Clear Your Gear Initiative:

i)     the Civic Administration BE REQUESTED to explore the best methods to empty and maintain the recycling receptacles to be placed at areas for recreational fishing; and,

ii)     the communication, as appended to the Added Agenda, with respect to this matter, BE RECEIVED;

it being noted that the Animal Welfare Advisory Committee will continue to engage with the Civic Administration with respect to the implementation of this initiative;

c)    clauses 1.1 to 4.1 BE RECEIVED.

Motion Passed (6 to 0)

6.   Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 5:03 PM.

Full Transcript

Transcript provided by Lillian Skinner’s London Council Archive. Note: This is an automated speech-to-text transcript and may contain errors. Speaker names are not identified.

View full transcript (1 hour, 27 minutes)

Committee room one and two, can we do an audio test please? Can you hear us? Yes we can. Can you do the test on the other microphone?

Yeah, that one. Obviously sure. (laughing) Sorry, can you do that again? Just come up to the camera microphone and just say testing.

Thing, can you hear me? Yes, that’s good, thank you. All right, Stephen, you might want to turn off your video. Thank you.

Okay, here we are, four o’clock. I’d like to call the meeting to order. I think we’ve got a quorum for sure. Looks like we might be waiting for one committee member, so we will start slowly.

I want to say the city of London is committed to making every effort to provide alternate formats and communication supports for council standing or advisory committee meetings and information upon request. To make a request for any city service, please contact accessibility@london.ca or 519-661-2489 extension 2425. To make a request specific to this meeting, please contact CPSC@london.ca. I’m calling the 16th meeting of the Community and Productive Services Committee to order.

This is a virtual meeting during the COVID-19 emergency. Please check the city website for updates about COVID-19 service impacts. I’m looking to committee members, either on the Zoom or in council chambers for a disclosure sub-cuniary interest. Raise your hand on the Zoom if you have one.

Okay, I don’t see any. It brings us to the consent items. I do want to flag that there is an adjustment. Apologies, Councillor Helmer.

Councillor Slee, a disclosure? Yes, apologies, yes. I just wanted to declare a book to your interest on 2.3, the agreement with the migration partnership with the migration refugees to the city of Michigan, Canada as they work through the federal government. Okay, so let’s pull item 2.3.

I believe we’re also going to have to pull 2.6. There’s about an update on that front. Any other items that colleagues like to pull for a separate discussion or debate? Is there a mover for the remaining consent items?

Go ahead, Marilyn. Yeah, I think 2.7, if I could ditch here, I believe there will be a presentation. I’m sure there’ll be some discussion on this as well. Okay, 2.8 also needs to be pulled ‘cause there’s a delegation request with that item.

So that leaves us with 2.5, 2.4, point one, 2.2 and 2.9. Is that a mover for all of those? Councillor Lewis, seconded, Councillor Fyfe Miller. Any discussion about those items that are in the consent motion?

No, we’re gonna open that up on the screen for a vote. Oh, Councillor Fyfe Miller, go ahead. Somebody have a mic on? Just a comment on item 2.4, the monument restoration.

You know, I pass that a lot. It’s one of our more diverse pieces that we use as a representation of our city and of our history. And you know what, I have to comment that really excited to see that it’s a piece that we are gonna put some time and energy into to keep. So thank you.

Thank you, any other comments? Okay, if not, we’re gonna open that up for voting on the consent items. Chair and the inter-mobile, yes, thank you. Thank you.

Okay, there is an error with the voting. So it’s open again, be in front of you on e-scrap. Building the vote, the motion carries six to zero. That brings us to item 2.4, London and Middlesex, local immigration partnership with IRC Canada.

I have a mover for that. Thank you, the clerk is very kindly reminding me that this agreement has not actually been finalized and we’re looking for a motion to refer it to the next meeting of CAHPS staff have been working very closely with the ministry to nail it down and it just didn’t today’s meeting. So if I have a motion to refer it to our next CAHPS meeting, Councillor Fife Miller, thank you. Councillor Lewis, seconder.

Any discussion on that? Thanks to the clerk for catching that. We’re opening the vote. Closing the vote, the motion carries five to zero with one abstain.

Item 2.6, social services relief on phase four allocations. Colleagues, as you recall, we had some changes last minute to the stabilization space. I’m just gonna go to Mr. Dickens refresh Mr.

Cooper. To give us a bit of an update about what needs to change in this report, this in front of us here, essentially to make sure that it’s aligned with what we have already done. Go ahead, Mr. Dickens.

Thank you, Chair. And through you, my apologies to committee. This report was submitted prior to the council meeting last week and we failed to catch the change in this report based on last week’s discussion. In Schedule 1 of the report, there is a line item that indicates funding for the winter response.

That line item in Schedule 1 as part of the table should be reflected or altered to reflect $1,590,000 which reflects the reduction in funding for the stabilization space. Thank you. Okay, with that change noted, is there a mover for that? Your holder, seconded by Councillor Lewis.

Okay, any discussion? Change noted, we’ll open it up on the voting. Closing the vote, the motion carries six to zero. Thank you very much, colleagues.

That brings us to item 2.7. As you will see, there is a presentation that’s on the added agenda. There’s also a delegation request from Mr. Wallace from on the Development Institute.

I see him in committee room. So what I like to do is have the staff presentation and then we can deal with the delegation request and then we can get into discussion of the plan roadmap to 3,000 units. Can I turn it over to staff for the presentation and then we’ll come to the delegation request. Go ahead.

Thank you, Chair and through you. I’m happy to walk committee through the slides in their agenda package, if that’s preferred or through sharing our screen. Chair, it’s easiest. I will walk you through the agenda package then.

So starting on page 145 of your agenda package, we provide some background on this roadmap and how we got to this point. So in March of 2021, Municipal Council passed a resolution which had directed us to expedite the development of 3,000 affordable housing units that had previously been set out in our housing stability action plan. For that to occur over five years instead of the 10 years as originally designed in the plan. We were also to direct it to report back at a future meeting with the implementation plan inclusive of the financial impacts that set out the best supports for the development of affordable housing units.

As I go to page 186 of your agenda package, we identify the need for the 3,000 units and happy to share with committee. The average of median house prices increased by 50% from 2015 to 2020 in London. Creates an incredible pressure in our housing market as you’re aware. The average market rent in London grew from just below $900 per month in 2015 to just over $1,100 in 2021.

The annual average housing units constructed 2015 to 2020 sat at about 2,100 units, while the average affordable housing units constructed or built from 2018 to 2020 sat at 130 affordable housing units per year, thus creating a significant need for our 3,000 unit roadmap. As I proceed through the agenda, how the roadmap was created. So civic administration secured the services of SHS Consulting, an organization that has worked both with the city of London in the past, but also with other municipalities on very similar plans. To assist us in developing an implementation roadmap, a framework, if you will, in response to council’s direction.

The SHS consultants worked with civic administration across the entire corporation, involving several service areas, but also consulted externally with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, as well as specific interviews with prominent developers in our community, as well as the London Development Institute, actually through our individual who’s requesting delegation status tonight. So individuals from both the nonprofit and private development community were interviewed as part of this plan. This plan, however, is a framework and it is direction, but the most important work and the most important engagement is still yet to come. And that engagement with key stakeholders will help inform the how, in terms of how we deliver on this roadmap.

What we heard through this process is that there is significant capacity and interest among nonprofit organizations to build affordable housing, but the lack of a standard funding program from the city has made building affordable housing a significant challenge compared to other communities. There is interest among private developers to build affordable housing, but there is also an expectation that there will be incentives for these units. Continuing on with what we heard, the city should leverage funding from senior levels of government by building on these programs and working closely with CMHC. And nonprofit and private developers can build affordable units more cost efficiently than the city and they can better leverage private donations and CMHC funding programs.

Therefore, the feedback that we gathered through this engagement process was that an emphasis should be primarily on supporting housing providers rather than on the municipality developing housing itself. We’ve provided in our council report, but also in this presentation, a targeted portfolio approach to reach the 3,000 units. As you can see, it is a mix of both affordable home ownership, secondary suites, looking at affordable rental units through nonprofit and private developers and setting out a matrix or a portfolio that we feel is both aggressive but also achievable. We have left some elements in this portfolio that are sort of captured under a donation.

So 50 units that may be captured through donation of land, property or capital investment units that can be achieved through rent supplements that are city funded for new and existing units and private rental buildings. And also units that are kind of captured under an other category that could be best referenced as transitional housing units, temporary housing units or other types of housing situations. I know this committee and council has brought forward ideas in the past around agricultural food production, housing arrangements or other types of tiny homes or transitional housing models. So we’ve included that in this model here.

I am now going to turn the presentation over to Ms. Barbone who will be happy to walk committee through the financial impacts and the financial plan for this strategy. Thank you. Awesome, thank you, Kevin.

So just to continue on, I’m starting on slide 151. So as Kevin noted, the 3,000 unit plan outlines and needs to deliver the units in five years instead of 10. So this section of the presentation essentially outlines every option to fund the financial plan that will be in place to fund the ambitious and bold housing plan that is in front of you. So in coming up with the financial strategy to support this, staff did review every option available to fund this plan and as such as presented in the recommendations that we have before you today.

So we looked at all the alternatives and we’re providing our best advice to you as to where the cost should most appropriately be funded and also to provide some flexibility for future councils should there need to be an opportunity or a need to slightly adjust it either up or down depending on the needs in context with the budget. So essentially the 3,000 unit plan requires approximately $90 million of the municipal funding. That includes both the operating as well as the capital component. So the entire funding plan to support the 3,000 units is essentially only recommending and included on this slide you’ll see the operating budget component to support the plan which is specifically what is required to be supported from an incremental property tax increase that would be spread over five years.

This represents less than 5% of the total $90 million in municipal funding that is required. So essentially what this slide summarizes is the ongoing nature of the budgets and that an annual tax levy of approximately 0.01% of five years over the five years. So essentially there’s a little bit more in 2023 where you can see it’s about a quarter of a percent but essentially it would then to find the incremental nature of the ongoing rent supplement units that are added each year thereafter at 0.1% incrementally. So we believe in the grant scheme of the plan that this is relatively minor in terms of what is required through the funding through taxation.

To go to the next slide under the capital budget impacts essentially this slide is summarizing what the proposed grants to offset the fees and charges that are identified in this plan. These are essentially identified as one-time costs to support the five-year implementation. So these specific estimated costs for the city contributions is approximately $15 million each year for the total of five years resulting in $78 million in total cost. So in order to consolidate the available funding and help to improve the efficiency and administration as well as to give a little bit more transparent monitoring to the public and to council as well as the reporting on the use of this funding we are recommending that all of the funding be consolidated in the new affordable housing reserve fund and that that will be the key driver to provide the primary funding source for the initiatives.

So if you’ll recall in the mid-year monitoring report a portion of the projected 2021 year end surplus was to be contributed to support housing which is forecasted at this time to be approximately up to $10 million. We are also recommending that there is unused and available Canada Community Building Fund which is formerly the federal gas tax of $16 million that would be substituted into eligible capital projects that would essentially free up funding to support this housing plan. The remaining funding then would come from transfers from various city reserves and reserve funds through to the new affordable housing reserve fund. So page 62 of your initial CAHPS agenda summarizes the reserve fund transfers that are proposed that are totally and approximately $52 million.

So I wanna highlight the benefits of the approach in terms of the proposed funding strategy. So essentially we’re trying to limit the tax levy increases to the extent possible and only to support the portion of the ongoing operating budget impacts needed is favorable because it does avoid the use of debt. Certainly within the municipal act context grants to third parties cannot be debt financed. So this certainly is a good way to utilize our reserve funds.

This does leverage the one time top up that the city of London received in 2021 from the Canada Community Building Fund to free up the municipal dollars on other capital projects. And I think to highlight the fact that the city is actually able to draw on the balances in available reserves and reserve funds does highlight the strength of the city’s prudent financial planning. And one of the strong benefits of having a AAA credit rating has got us to this point. And it’s certainly something that has been viewed as very prudent in our financial planning.

And certainly funding this plan through the use of the reserve funds does facilitate regular monitoring. And certainly drawdowns are only made as funding is required based on the cash flow as needed. So in highlighting the benefits, there are also some financial risks that council should be aware of in approving the financial plan to support the housing roadmap in front of you. So this financial plan does recognize these risks and does outline in the report in terms of how we attempted to mitigate them.

So although there is a significant dollar value committed from the reserves and reserves funds to support this ambitious plan, it does give a little bit of reduced flexibility to council should there be other significant investments that are unplanned that council would wish to draw on reserves for in the future. So certainly we have mitigated that risk through the use of the choice in the reserve fund transfers and by the fact that drawdowns are only taken as needed. So depending on the timing of when that is needed, those reserve fund transfers would only be done at that time. Funding the roadmap does move the city a little further away from achieving the target balances, specifically that have been outlined in the operating budget contingency reserve fund as well as the triple E reserve.

Certainly, we’ve mitigated that because the other reserve funds that we are recommending transfers to occur from do not have targets established yet. So that does give a little bit more flexibility in terms of making those transfers. The funding strategy also does not take into account providing any additional long-term funding that might be needed for additional city-owned housing. This is an important key point as this is where funding from other levels of government would be critical to advance those particular needs going forward on the municipal side.

So certainly a key level and linkage to the advocacy which certainly result in this part of the plan. And certainly the financial risk is that there is an opportunity cost as we use the remaining top-up funds from the Canada Community Building Fund, which means that it cannot be used to support other potential eligible projects. So in a nutshell, we think we’ve balanced all the needs and priorities of council with a prudent financial plan. And certainly we recommend the approach for funding that plan that we have provided in the report before you today.

So that’s it for the formal presentation. And certainly back to the chairs and we’re happy to answer any questions if you have. Hey, thanks very much for that comprehensive presentation. I would like to see you about the delegation request and then we can probably get into questions after that unless there’s something urgent.

Okay, would someone like to move? Do we hear the delegation request? Councillor Lewis, seconder, Councillor Vaiff Miller. Wonderful.

Let’s open that up. Miss, stick there, Mr. Wallace. I’ll stand here, whether I get it.

Mr. Hiller? What did? Supposing the vote, the motion carries six to zero.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you, Chair and Councillors, for agreeing to have me speak to this item. It’s a very, very important item on your agenda.

And just as a little bit on the side, I think I’m not sure in a billion dollar policy, I didn’t probably, your biggest one as this council should be on a consent agenda where you have to be a delegation to speak to it from the public. But that’s another issue for our future day. I want to be absolutely clear that our industry is very much supportive of the work that the city is doing on the affordable housing issue and this roadmap going forward. That we want to be partners on this just as an example of how concerned we are and committed to this cause is that we have formed an affordable housing within LDI to look at the issues that as an industry that we can contribute to and how we can help.

We see through the roadmap that it’s really, half the units basically are close to half the units are from the private sector. And we don’t disagree with that approach. You absolutely need the private sector table you’ll never get to that important goal of 3,000 units. We also believe that there is a partnership, a relationship that needs to be developed between not only us as the private sector, but with the not-for-profit housing providers that are here in this community, including Indoorwell, which is next on the agenda.

And the city, and of course with the public and with other levels of government. But I think that the three main legs of the stool on this one in terms of able to move this targets forward and achieve goals is that we need the private sector, the not-for-profit housing sector and the city all working together with the same goal. And we’re willing to and want to be at the table for that to happen. You know, in the report in the actual roadmap, there are some issues.

I’m not really going to do all on the issues today, but there are things that we need to talk about, that we need clarity on some of the numbers. We’re not sure if they’re a double accountant or not, but it doesn’t really matter. The goal is 3,000 units in five years. And we’re willing to be there on that.

We need to understand inclusionary zoning now. We’ve been told that it’s something that’s a bit under study. We were under the impression or under the assumption it was going to happen because it is in the PMTSA’s. But, you know, based on the study that we did this summer, inclusionary zoning can be permissive.

It can be restrictive. It can be, there’s a lot of, I mean, incentive base, there’s a lot of different models up there. And we’re willing to work with that. Development charges are for affordable housing is, as we know, part of the review that’s happening right now for the 2025 development charges.

And we’re more than happy to talk about that and look at that as options, as opportunities for us to be there. But we need to be at the table as an industry to talk about this so that we understand how we can contribute and that it is a fair program that actually will make the development industry come to the table and actually deliver affordable units for you. The final thing I want to tell you is that, you know, 30 years ago I was a counselor. I was 30 years old.

The best advice I got that I kept my whole career both politically and in business was from the city lawyer. And I was new and the lawyer said to me, Mike, but the rule of my job is this. As the city solicitor, the council decides what they want to accomplish. My job as the city solicitor is to have the law work to make that happen.

Not to tell council why you can’t do something, but why you can’t do something and how to make it happen. That was the thinking out of the box, in my view, that I used for the last 28 years, 30 years. I think in this case and in this area, we need that same sort of thinking at City Hall. You guys as the council have settled clearly that you want 3,000 units of affordable housing within five years, which was an absolutely needed goal.

We agree and we hope that that message is that we can work together, whether it’s planning, legal, whatever the issues that we may face, but the goal is always how do we make it happen? How do we make it happen? And we’re willing to be at the table to talk to you about how we can help make that happen. And we thought it was important that this had at least some public input on it tonight.

And that’s why I’m here and thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Wallace. I have a motion to receive the delegation.

Mayor Holder, seconder, Councillor Vaiff Miller. Let’s just vote on receiving it and then we’ll get into other discussion. If you’d like to get on the speakers list for the main reports, let me know. It’s on receiving the delegation.

Posing the vote, the motion carries six to zero. I have Councillor Hillier. Thanks very much, Chair. Just a couple of comments.

Firstly, in terms of Mr. Wallace’s comments, I very much appreciate the comments that LDI has prepared to be, as he said, very much supportive. And I’m pleased to hear that a group’s been created through LDI to help make that happen, which was an interesting thing because I heard that quote from how things can happen that we need to have that thinking at City Hall. We wouldn’t have been at this level where we’ve introduced and supported and voted on and agreed on 3,000 affordable housing units over the next five years if we didn’t believe that this could happen.

But I believe it’s a team that will make it work together and that team certainly does include all three partners that have been indicated, actually all out of fourth, but the city, the private sector and the non-for-profit and obviously with the cooperation of senior levels of government, which are gonna be so critical in terms of putting all of this together. I’m sure we don’t do double accounting. I have that much confidence in our finance departments reporting, but the thing that impressed me the most about what Mr. Wallace said is the importance of working together.

So I’d like to acknowledge that that’s certainly our view of it as well and we look forward to working with the private sector and non-for-profit sector and we’ll continue the strong relationships we have with other levels of government to make this happen. I’d like to give a shout out to both Mr. Dickens and his team and Ms. Barbone and her team with regard to putting the information together for this roadmap, Mr.

Chair. Look, it’s dramatic. It’s critically important to satisfy an absolute critical need in our community and I also wanna applaud Council for taking the leadership as it has for putting this together. It is, I don’t think there will be anything more important in this Council term and perhaps even in terms to come than dealing with the issue of what we’re dealing with today.

So I wanted to make that point and thank Council for their commitment, you know, as my Kate Bretton, one would say that caring community is measured by how well we care for those who sometimes are less able to care for themselves and I sincerely believe that. So, Bravo to Council, Bravo to Staff, Bravo to LDI. There you go, but frankly to the private, not-for-profit sectors as well. It, all of our contributions together matter and I just wanna say a heartfelt thanks.

Councilor Hillier, then I have Councilor Lewis next. Just let me know if you wanna be on the list. Go ahead, Councilor Hillier. Thank you.

Recently I had Council Research Team Member Rushi Mohan, research affordable housing formulas across Canada and have it forwarded to all members of Council. And my question is, is do we have any preferred metrics being used for grading these affordable housing projects that Councilors can use so we can weigh these? Over the last, about a year, we’ve had a lot of these come through with metrics from all different levels. I’ve seen 5% up to 30%.

And I’m wondering, do we have a list of preferred metrics that we can use for these so we can come with up with some sort of a grading system? When I look at what other cities are doing, everything is being directed towards how they’re going to reach these goals, but how are we grading the affordable housing deals? Who would like to handle that one? I, through the chair, I could probably do that.

It’s George Bosphus. Go ahead, Mr. Bosphus. So we do have a series of metrics that we have in house through our HDC office.

They analyze all our applications that we provide funding for as well as our own internal, our own projects that we undertake. So we haven’t, I guess released that if that is something that Council would like us to do or develop something that would be for Council. I guess we could probably establish that and provide it to Council. Right now it’s an internal document.

Councilor? Yes, if we could have something that would be, that would work for Councillors, just so we’d have a metric to rate these projects. Thank you, I’d appreciate that. Thank you, I’m gonna go to Councilor Lewis.

Thank you, Mr. Chair and through you and colleagues, I’m gonna echo a little bit of the Mayor’s comments here. I cannot think of a vote that we will cast, that we have cast or that we will cast in this term of Council, that is going to be more important than this one. When the Mayor came forward and shared his 3,005 years target, I said it was ambitious, but it was worth being ambitious on this.

There’s no more pressing issue, I think, in our community than the affordable housing and homelessness crisis that is confronting so many Londoners today and will continue to do so, and we know, and I suspect that colleagues are no different than I am in terms of hearing from constituents every single day about the importance of addressing the homelessness and affordable housing crisis in our city. Every single day I hear from somebody about that, whether it’s a phone call or an email or a social media comment, Londoners want us to take action on this. And I will say when I read the initial report, I was a little concerned about the potential impact on the property tax base, because I’m also aware that I certainly have many residents and I know that many other Councillors do as well, who are on fixed incomes and who have a level of housing affordability right now, but because of those fixed incomes, they are concerned about additional pressures that might put them in a precarious situation to stay in their homes. But I think what we have here is a modest impact on the property tax levels.

I think it’s very astute to use our well-funded and cautiously developed reserve funds to create an affordable housing reserve fund. I think there’s, and I hope, and I know we have a federal speech from the throne today, I hope that there will be action from senior levels of government on this that we will be able to leverage those funds into even more funding to tackle this problem. I’m gonna be fully supportive of this though, and I would be remiss if I didn’t channel a little bit of the thoughts that Councillor Squire, former Councillor Squire would want me to share today and that I would share myself. I’m delighted to see that we will be shifting and removing the earmark on funds that were set aside for back to the river to be addressing the housing issue.

We, when that issue was before us, said let’s do the so-ho piece first, and we’re gonna talk about the so-ho need in a few minutes on another item on the agenda, and that’s going to make an incredibly important impact in terms of our steps toward 3,000. But we heard from Mr. Wallace, the private sector’s ready to go on this. We saw in a recent decision on a proposal on Auburn, that developer was willing to play ball and create some affordable housing units with us, that created 12 new units, and I know that people get frustrated when they hear 12 here, 10 there, eight over here, but they add up, and when we’re looking at 400 in so-ho, and when we’re looking at the money that we’re preparing to set aside today, I think that this is the legacy that this Council will be remembered for, is that we tackled affordable housing at a time when it was the most pressing issue in our community, and so I hope this will get unanimous support at committee, and I hope it gets unanimous support when it comes to Council, so that we can start getting shovels in the ground and getting the housing built that people need in London.

Other speakers? Okay, if not, I’m just going to say a couple things from the chair, really glad to see this coming forward, especially it was only back in April that we dealt with the letter that Mayor Holder brought about creating the target for 3,000 affordable units, and there’s been a lot going on in that time period, and I think to come forward with such a well thought out plan about how are we going to do this, and where are these units going to come from, and recognizing that it’s going to be many different ways of getting to more affordable housing. It’s not going to be solely through the construction of new units, rent supplements are going to be part of the mix. Frankly, it’s a lot easier to mobilize rent supplements than it is to build a new housing.

It can happen a lot quicker, and they’re flexible and they can move around the city to create affordability in different places at different times, and I think that’s actually really important part of the mix. I know that it’s going to be critical that we get both the province and the federal government on board with our plan, and I think that when I heard Mr. Wallace speaking earlier, and I think many of the developers who are building housing in the city, the nonprofit agencies that are working on the same issues, especially from an affordable lens, many of the other agencies and groups in our city institutions that believe we have a significant problem when it comes to affordable housing, I think we need to be speaking as one unified voice to the province and the federal government about the need to take action here in London and meet this need urgently, and I wonder if that is an opportunity where we can be on what is in this plan on the advocacy front, and making sure that we are speaking with that one unified voice as powerful as possible to both those levels. It’s not that long ago that we were dealing with the 122 baseline project.

It was earlier in this year, proving the funding for that, $17 million mix of provincial and federal and municipal money, and that project has gone from idea to implementation very, very quickly, and I think that is the kind of action that we need, and it’s not going to be possible without the province and the federal government stepping up in addition to everything that’s laid out in the plan before us. So I’d certainly support the plan. I’m really glad to see it come forward relatively quickly after we agreed as a council on this target, and now the really difficult work is in front of us, which is securing the funds to make it happen and actually building the housing, and helping to enable that a building when it’s done by others. So I really appreciate the discussion.

Look forward to discussion at council. Thanks very much, we’ll open up the vote. Someone like to move this one, Mayor Holder, okay. Seconder, Councillor Lewis.

Posing the vote, the motion carries, six to zero. Brings us to item 2.8. We have a request for delegation status from Sylvia Harris, who is the chair of Vision Solo Alliance, also from Indwell. And I wonder if we could deal with the delegation request and hear from Ms.

Harris, if your committee agrees to do that first. Councillor Lewis, moving that. Seconder, Councillor Hillier, thank you. Let’s open that up.

Posing the vote, the motion carries, six to zero. Five minutes, we can’t hear you yet. So perhaps your microphone is not working. You are unmuted, but we don’t hear you.

Are you, can you hear me now? We can, go ahead. Great, thank you so much, Chair. Thank you for this opportunity to speak.

My name is Sylvia Harris. I’m a development manager at Indwell. And I’m also the chair of the Soho Alliance, which is a partnership of six nonprofit developers who have come together to work together on the redevelopment of the Soho lands through the tender process that we are going through with the city of London. So we just wanted to take this chance to publicly thank city staff for their support on our funding request to develop the 400 units at these lands.

And in both this specific request, but also the work that’s gone into the item that you just voted on is so important for us and very encouraging. And it has all the factors that we, that we’re looking for as the nonprofit community to take these marching orders and to deliver the affordable housing that we know London needs. And the unprecedented opportunity to do this at Soho on such a large piece of property. And we just really thank city staff for their support.

Not only on this request, but as some of you may know, our planning, zoning, OPA, and heritage designation was approved last night by planning and environment committee. So seeing a lot of support through those technicalities, the financial piece, which is in front of you tonight, which will really solidify our ability to deliver on these units. And then also we just wanted to let you know that we are committed to delivering the rest of the thousand that we’ve been assigned to by George and Annalisa and Kevin and their team. And really look forward to continuing to work forward together to deliver affordable housing for the city of London.

But yeah, just wanted to shortly thank George Costafis on his work and Annalisa on finding the financial solutions to really help make this project possible. And I’m also here to answer any technical questions that might come through the staff report. Thank you so much, Chair. Okay, thank you.

Can I have a motion just to receive that delegation? Councilor Lewis seconded by Councilor Fiff Miller. Okay. Counselling the vote, the motion carries six to zero.

We’re a seconder for the staff recommendation just before we get into the discussion. Councilor Fiff Miller, yep. Seconder, Councilor Hilliard, okay. Discussion, Councilor Fiff Miller.

Thank you, Chair. And through you to my colleagues, this is in my opinion, an excellent way to kickstart the mayor’s plan towards our units. I think not only what this means to the city and affordable units, but I think further to that, what it means to the Soho community overall. I think this represents great opportunity to see what happens when we bring groups of people together to try and come up with something that is special for the community.

We have these organizations that are working together, working with staff, and I think what we’ve come up with and what they’ve developed in Soho is something, is something really special and something that this community can be extremely proud of, and something that we can build on. So I wanna commend everybody for the work that’s been done on this. I know most of this work was done before I got here, but so happy to see this, so happy to see this come to fruition, so I wanna thank everyone for all their energy in this, and very excited to see it come together. Thank you.

Thank you, other speakers, better holder, go ahead. Thanks very much. Chair, last night of committee, we had approved this subject to council’s support, but I made a point last night of talking about this unprecedented development, and it is all of that. In fact, the first of its kind in Canada, and I think can be a role model to communities right across the country.

Here we have several partners whom I named last night, but I think it deserves repeating their names, because I think what they have done in terms of their leadership is unprecedented, but equally critical in supporting the greatest need that I think has come across our roles and responsibilities as council members. Those partners include Homes Unlimited, Chelsea Green, Indwell, Zaren, London Affordable Housing Foundation, the Italian Seniors Project. And last night, I did make reference to the London Food Bank who made a significant financial contribution what I did not mention. Equally, it was the London Community Foundation played such an incredible role in bringing the organizations together, and they put money where their talk is, and that truly matters.

I’d also like to give a shout out to Western University, their public history department, students in the master’s program, are involved in a significant longer term research project as it relates to so. And so many other partners out there including our indigenous communities locally who understand the importance of getting this right. And the problem with the list chair, as soon as you mentioned, several people, there will be those that we didn’t, but those are some of the really critical partners. But I wanna thank everyone that’s had a role to play in this because it’s dramatic, its impact will be felt forever.

That’s how important this is, so thank you. Other speakers, to Lewis. Just briefly, Mr. Chair and I too, as a member of the planning committee, had a chance last night to speak in favor of it and support the technical pieces of moving this forward.

And I said this last night on the planning application approvals and I’ll say it again, I wanna specifically single out Greg Playford from the London Community Foundation and Ron Robottum, who took the time to meet with me and educate me on what they were doing in specific details around this development as well as, excuse me, Mr. Chair, as well as Roger Caranchi from, on behalf of the Italian Seniors Project, which is developing the residents of Victoria property in this development. And I will say the residence or tona project in the East End has been a gift to this community in terms of what it has done to address the need for housing homeless veterans. And I have no doubt that residents of Victoria and the other components of Vision SoHo’s plan are going to make just as significant an impact on our community, both in terms of the affordable housing, the 400 units that this recommendation from staff would help ensure are developed, but the total redevelopment of that corridor along the south branch of the Thames in the SoHo neighborhood, I referenced earlier, I was glad to see the back to the river money being part of the proposal for affordable housing because this is, to me, this was the piece and I know it has evolved from outside of the back to the river project, but this was the piece of that project that SoHo redevelopment, but I was always so excited and supportive of and wanted to see come forward first.

And here we are today, almost to the point where we’re getting it green, let and ready to go. We still have to get through the council process, but I’m very, very happy to be able to support this. I think this is a great investment of the $11.2 million that’s being sought from us to leverage so much greater a community benefit when the project is complete. So very happy to support this.

I wanna thank everybody for the work that’s gone into it already and looking forward to seeing sooner than later the construction underway there. Councilor Hillier. Yes, thank you. Just a question for staff.

How many of these affordable housing projects have we approved so far? What number are we at? What time period are you interested in Councilor Hillier? Since the mayor’s declaration.

Okay, let’s see what the answer is. If anyone happens to have that handy. Thank you chair and I’ll provide the answer based on some of the information that I have at my fingertips right now. In our report that we just discussed around the 3000 unit plan, we identified that there’s roughly 200 affordable housing units that have either been captured under Bonusing provision or through our baseline project or through other housing development projects that are currently in the pipeline.

And we know that they’re in addition to the one that committee has just been discussing with vision solo. There are other affordable housing projects ready to go as well. And then the pipeline for future development. So between the 400 affordable housing units in this report and the roughly 200 in our previous report, we can point to 600 units at this point.

And there, I’m sure there’s probably more that Mr. Cox of us and his team have been tracking but 600 gives us a fairly accurate number. Excellent, it shows good progress. That’s what I wanted to see.

Thank you very much. Any other discussion? If not, I just wanted to say to the partners, I support the grant and I want to say that off the top. It is going to take mobilizing resources at a scale that we haven’t in the past to really meet this challenge.

And that we just dealt with the overall plan, but this is a specific example of what’s needed. And I want to commend finance staff and folks who work on housing for their work to try and figure out how can we make this work right away because the urgency is really close to everybody. I think people are feeling it. It takes a really long time to actually plan out and execute the projects of this magnitude.

And I think the partnership that we’re seeing between all the various affordable housing developers to come together and make something really big happen at a scale that they haven’t taken on individually is also really, really encouraging because we’re going to need a lot of cooperation of that kind to pull off these kind of projects. Of course, I would like to point out that this is just happening 250 meters down the road from the future rapid transit station on South Street. And so we have a real win-win here, which is we have the redevelopment of old heritage property into housing, which is much needed, affordable housing on top of that, which is excellent. And then very short walk to what’ll be the best transit in the city, which will be developed on basically the same timeline.

By the time the building is built, we’ll start having stations and buses running in rapid transit lanes on Wellington. So I think that’s actually a really good example of what is envisioned in London plan. We’re going to add density in the core. We’re going to build more affordable housing.

We’re going to give people mobility options that are cheaper than everybody has to own a car that costs $9,000 a year to operate and maintain and ensure. And that’s what we have to do. We have to lower the cost of living and this kind of combo of land use and mobility planning. That’s how we can do it.

So I’m really excited to see it happening in front of our eyes. I know that in the planning area, a lot of people work on this project through the secondary plan over many, many years, especially our former chief planner, John Fleming, who really had a vision for what could happen on these lands. And I want to recognize him and his whole team for the work that they did to bring that forward. That’s a really good example of what can happen.

And I hope we see more of it on other big parcels of land in the city where we could do something similar of this magnitude. I see Councillor Cassidy has come in and raised her hand. Go ahead. My apologies, Mr.

Chair for coming in late and also for my casual outfit. I was not expecting to speak at your committee tonight. So thank you for recognizing me. Just sort of felt compelled to jump in and add my thanks to everybody involved, especially Division Soho.

And the London Community Foundation look has been, Councillor Lewis mentioned that back to the River Project, London Community Foundation has never led up on their vision on what could happen in and around these lands and tying it into the river. So I really do want to commend them for not giving up on this and also joining with these other partners with the Vision Soho group and working with city staff to make this happen. This is really a really good news for London. And as you said, Mr.

Chair, this is the work that did happen with City of London staff, but it’s not something that the city can just do. We can’t just create the affordable housing units. No matter how many declarations we make, it takes that partnership with the community, working with city staff and then getting a buy-in from city council. And this is absolute buy-in.

If this passes, which I fully anticipate it, it will pass at the next council meeting. That is the buy-in from council right there. So the other part of this is that repurposing of heritage buildings and this whole repurposing of this former public site that were hospital buildings on this site and to see this rejuvenation take place. And again, to that vision that John Fleming had and seeing his vision come through to fruition, even though it’s gone through many different players and in the whole project, it really is great news for the City of London and will help us get on that path towards achieving the goal of those 3,000 units.

Thank you again for letting me speak tonight. Okay, let’s check to see if there’s anyone else. I don’t see anyone, so let’s open up the vote. Housing the vote, the motion carries, six to zero.

It says to schedule items of which there are none, items for direction, there are none. Under deferred matters, additional business, we have the deferred matters list and also the 10th report, the animal welfare advisory committee. You’ll notice that there’s a couple of allocations of their budget in there, which is why it’s there as traditional business. We need to make decision on separate from the consent agenda.

I’m gonna take a chance here and see if we can deal with them both together. The mover, Councillor Lewis, yes, seconder, Councillor Fife Miller, okay. Any discussion on those items? Let’s open them both up, we’re voting.

Housing the vote, the motion carries, six to zero. Okay, that brings us to adjournment, but just before we do that, colleagues, this is our last meeting together for this council year. And I just wanted to thank everyone, long serving members and new members for your work over the past year. At the beginning, I remember in our, it was our first meeting when we were in the second meeting.

We had a discussion about priorities. What do you want to focus on? This committee, we have the very wide range of items that come before us. And sometimes lots of Councillor initiated ideas that can sometimes be a bit of a distraction from some of the things we might think are priorities.

And we talked about it for a while, and we really agreed on housing as a priority for this committee, among the many things that we deal with that are important. And we’ve heard about some of the things that we’ve worked on. Our very first meeting that we dealt with the winter response for last year, that was our very first meeting of the year. And we proceeded to deal with a lot of pretty important things, including the updates on that program, hearing how it had worked, the second iteration of that program, which we just dealt with, the head lease program, which is quite innovative and leading, frankly, in Ontario, the head lease program, and how we’re doing that.

We’re reallocating some money into first homelessness prevention allowances, and then later into that head lease program that the police services board said that they could go without for a bit. The housing stability plan updates, all the progress that we saw being done in that area under a really period of very stressful environment for delivering housing stability, initiating the RFP for housing stability, the shelter system, outreach, and the stability bank. A couple of items related to property standards of rental buildings and also owned buildings really made a big step forward on property standards, frankly, introducing the amps, starting the discussion around, you know, with a rent-safe kind of program work for London, that’ll be for a future committee to decide on. The funding for that 122 baseline project, which is a big, big project, $17 million.

And then outside of housing, we did deal with a couple of things, the music city designation, getting that started, came through our committee, the towing licensing, which has been an ongoing issue for quite some time, and we landed that one. You’ll have heard probably at the police service board that that contract was approved, and there’s gonna be a different approach for towing in the city of London. The police officers won’t be recommending a particular person anymore. They’ll just be saying, here’s the list of licensed tow operators on the city website.

Call who you’d like. And then the flyer deliveries, we’ve been wrestling with that issue for a while, and it’s ongoing, but we have done some good work there. And then last thing I wanna mention is in my ward, so I think that might be why I’m tacking it on, is doing something to recognize the impact of the assessment centers on the communities that hosted them over the COVID pandemic. That’s also something that’s ongoing, but we got that started here at the committee.

So I just wanted to say the committee, thanks very much for your work. It’s been a lot of heavy items. I know the staff who report into us at this committee are excellent, and we’ve seen that time and time again. As are the people who work in the community and touch a lot of these things we just heard from.

So the Harris, but there’s lots and lots of people working on these issues out in the community, and I wanna recognize them for the work that they did on these issues, especially when it comes to housing. Thanks very much. Okay, motion to adjourn. Councillor Lewis, Councillor Faiff Miller.

All those in favor, adjourned.