Open Council

5th Meeting of the Budget Committee

Open Council

5th Meeting of the Budget Committee

November 19, 2024, at 4:00 PM

Original link

The meeting is called to order at 4:24 PM; it being noted that Councillors S. Stevenson, S. Hillier, P. Van Meerbergen and D. Ferreira were in remote attendance.

1.   Disclosures of Pecuniary Interest

That it BE NOTED that no pecuniary interests were disclosed.

2.   Consent

None.

3.   Scheduled Items

3.1   Public Participation Meeting - Not to be heard before 4:00 PM - Budget

Moved by P. Cuddy

Seconded by S. Franke

That the following written submissions for the 2025 Annual Budget Public Participation Meeting BE RECEIVED for consideration by the Municipal Council as part of the Multi-Year approval process:

  • a communication from K. M. Pagniello, Executive Director and Lawyer and M. Laliberte, Staff Lawyer, Neighbourhood Legal Services;

  • a communication from M. Davis, Supervisor, Responsive Community Care;

  • a communication from A. Selk, Occupational Therapy Clinical Leader, VHA Rehab Solutions;

  • a communication from C. Saika, Manager, Talisman Woods Housing Co-op, Executive Co-Ordinators Association of Southwestern Ontario (CASO);

  • a communication from C. Tremeer, CEO/Executive Director and B. Verberne, Union President, OPSEU Local 116, Children’s Aid Society of London and Middlesex;

  • a communication from M. Rioux, Chair, Board of Directors and M. Ciufo, Program Coordinator, Life*Spin;

  • a communication from K. Tremblay, Virtual Professional Organizer;

  • a communication from A. Summers, Medical Officer of Health, Middlesex-London Health Unit;

  • a communication from C. Parra, Integrated Health Manager, London InterCommunity Health Centre;

  • a communication from R. A. Patrick;

  • a communication from P. Moore;

  • a communication from C. Moss, Executive Director, London Cares;

  • a communication from P. Seale, Manager of Public Policy and Advocacy, Pillar Nonprofit Network; and

  • a communication from AM Valastro;

it being noted that at the public participation meeting associated with this matter, the following individuals made oral submissions regarding this matter:

  • K. M. Pagniello;

  • P. Moore;

  • A.M. Valastro;

  • Unknown;

  • M. Cassidy;

  • I. Brammall;

  • M. Ciufo;

  • B. Samuels;

  • T. Mackenzie-Picot;

  • R. Gabel;

  • G. MacDonald;

  • D. Pasquino;

  • C. Butler;

  • F.  Panaitescu;

  • V. Kniivila;

  • Erica;

  • M. Richardson;

  • S. Campbell;

  • S. Villeneuve;

  • I. Leishman;

  • J. Macpherson;

  • S. Clark;

  • D. Wrather;

  • C. MacDonald;

  • J. Lean;

  • D. Peck;

  • L. Mauffette-Leenders;

  • Ashley;

  • A. Keet;

  • D. Boyce;

  • R. Clem;

  • Unknown;

  • M. Sheehan;

  • W. Bhagwandeen;

  • Rudy;

  • R. McGrath;

  • C. Robinson;

  • R. de Freitas;

  • B. Muller;

  • S. Forbes;

  • V. da Silva;

  • A. Schwanz;

  • J. Wernham;

  • R. Van Gelderen;

  • E. Akanbi; and

  • Harris

Motion Passed (15 to 0)

Additional Votes:

Moved by S. Franke

Seconded by P. Cuddy

Motion to open the public participation meeting.

Motion Passed (14 to 0)

Moved by A. Hopkins

Seconded by P. Cuddy

Motion to close the public participation meeting.

Motion Passed (15 to 0)

Moved by S. Trosow

Seconded by S. Franke

That pursuant to section 33.8 of the Council Procedure By-law, the Budget Committee BE PERMITTED to proceed beyond 6:00 PM.

Motion Passed (15 to 0)

Moved by S. Trosow

Seconded by S. Franke

That the Budget Committee recess at this time for 30 minutes.

Motion Passed

The Budget Committee recesses at 6:00 PM and reconvenes at 6:33 PM.

4.   Items for Direction

None.

5.   Deferred Matters/Additional Business

None.

6.   Adjournment

Moved by P. Cuddy

Seconded by S. Lehman

That the meeting BE ADJOURNED.

Motion Passed

The meeting adjourned at 8:21 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 (4 hours, 13 minutes)

[1:57] Hey everyone, we just settled down. We’re about to get started.

[15:35] This is the fifth meeting of the budget committee. The city of London is situated on the traditional lands of the Nanoshbak, Haudenosaunee, La Poag, and Adwandran. We on respect the history and language and the culture, the diverse indigenous people who call this territory home. The city of London is currently home to many First Nation, Métis and Inuit today. As representatives of the people of the city of London, we are grateful to have the opportunity to work and live in this territory. The city of London is committed to making every effort to provide alternate formats and communication supports for meetings upon request.

[16:07] To make a request specific to this meeting, please contact 519-661-2489, extension 2425. At this time, I’m gonna ask any committee members joining us online virtually to just turn on your cameras so I can verify that you’re there. We got Councillor Hillyer. Councillor Paul there. Okay. I’m expecting other Councillors to join us soon.

[16:41] I know Councillor Ferri was just doing a change in location. I’m also joined in chambers by Councillor Frank Hopkins, Lehman, the Mayor, Councillor Raman, Prabble, Cudi Lewis, McAllister and Councillor Troose somewhere. Um, Tori, he was near a moment ago. Looking to committee for disclosures of procuring interest. Seeing none, we have no consent items. I’m noting that for anyone who got here early, you would have seen us already in a meeting.

[17:17] We had a meeting that went from one till a few minutes ago and we do have a scheduled dinner break from six to six 30, which I do intend on adhering to. This is our public participation meeting tonight. It is based on the mayor’s table budget that you saw publicly. I’m going to highlight and well and go to Mr. Dickens briefly. As I know some of you are passionate about a few of the issues that have seen funding announcements made within the last few hours and yesterday. So Mr. Dickens is just gonna tell you the updated information on that.

[17:50] So we’re all aware of it. And then I will lay out how the public participation meeting will go this evening. Mr. Dickens. Thank you, Madam Budget Chair. As we shared with council before the one o’clock meeting began, civic administration has been working directly with contacts at the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services to navigate an ability to purchase services under our new program design to support hoarding and extreme clean services. This morning we have confirmed that there would be an opportunity to pursue a future procurement for such services within our approved budgets.

[18:28] What this means for this discussion is that it is anticipated that this ability to purchase services will alleviate and render not necessary any municipal tax levy contributions through a budget update. It will require entering into a purchase of service agreement through the procurement process and it will require a cost sharing between municipal funds and provincial funds. But those are within our existing operating budget. So we hope this comes as good news that the hoarding and extreme clean services will be covered through different program dollars as we’ve learned today and not require a budget update for that.

[19:10] In addition, we have also been notified that we can anticipate receiving a federal funding from a number of federal government sources. The notional allocations as they were will be budget dollars coming through the unsheltered homeless encampment initiative which is the federal encampment initiative where we expect to receive two years of funding with year one commencing this past September 2024 and year two commencing April 1st, 2025.

[19:50] We have also come to learn that we have received additional reaching home funding beyond what we traditionally receive under the reaching home envelope for both this fiscal year and next fiscal year. And civic administration continues to submit for reimbursement under the interim housing assistance program or IHAP for short and we anticipate with great confidence that we will receive those reimbursements as well. And what that means is that the city is in a position through the federal encampment dollars, the reaching home supports and the IHAP funding that will be in a position to fund the ARK aid business case that is on the MYB budget as well.

[20:40] We understand after recent council direction that there are certain caveats to that in terms of where specific services are located and provided but in all through the federal funding we will have the ability to fund the ARK aid business case that has been considered in the MYB budget update amongst other much needed services in our community. So happy to take any questions Madam Chair. No questions. So as we move through this tonight, we are here until residents are done speaking.

[21:17] We might need a few breaks along the way depending on how long it takes. I already noted the dinner break at six o’clock. Just we will need to do what we need to do and come back. This is our opportunity to hear from residents and your feedback. You can ask us to ponder a question. We’re just not going to answer that question nor will staff answer that question tonight. It’s just us taking it and processing it. I will also note that there are some people joining us online tonight. And as of right now, the other committee overflow rooms are open but we currently don’t have anyone in them ‘cause if they’ll start to fill up, it does change how I go to different spaces to make sure that we all have an opportunity and are engaged throughout tonight.

[21:58] Some of you, we see you frequently, some of you, it’s your first time here. So for everyone, you get to speak for up to five minutes. I do time everyone. At 30 seconds, I give you a warning. I found that you’ll hear the bell ‘cause I don’t like talking over to you to tell you 30 seconds to startle some people and then you forget what you’re saying. You can only speak once. So if you remember something after you’re done speaking, you can’t come back and say it and you can’t try and give your time to somebody else though I appreciate sharing just that’s your five minutes and either you use it or you don’t.

[22:32] Everyone’s welcome to speak. If there were youth here, they have as equal opportunity to this space as any adult would. Decorum in the room, I do hold it that there’s no bluing, no clapping, realizing we have diverse views and everyone needs to feel that they can have this space to say what they would like. If someone has just finished speaking on the same topic that you’re also speaking on, feel free to say to build on their comments or to add to it or I agree with them. If you’ve sent in communications, they are in our package. So just making sure that we use our effective user for our time of we don’t need to always reiterate anything just if you have a personal story to add of why you support something, please do.

[23:13] If you’re speaking to a specific business case, if you know the number, feel free to say it ‘cause some of us do flip back and forth to that as we follow along with any comments you might be making. You’re welcome to eat in the gallery, have a drink, you can come and go as you want, the washrooms are just up and outside and up to the doors. I will also note that some friends with us tonight, you will see are in mobility devices who might be relying on paratransit or rides. So if your ride is coming soon and you need to just signal that you need to turn up the mic, we will try to accommodate the best we can.

[23:48] And there are two mics on each side of the gallery, one upper and one lower level and I do rotate between the mics as we go. Some people had stated their intention on the agenda to speak tonight. So I’m gonna go through the list that way and then we open it all up. And like I said, we stay until we’re done tonight, so that’s okay. I think that’s it, do I miss anything? Sorry, Councilor, do you think I missed anything? You know, I have a question, okay, so.

[24:24] My quick question is, is it okay to ask people who may be here talking about one of the things that Mr. Dickens just mentioned that they should still state what they wanna state on the record? Yeah, absolutely. If you just got an update on information on something that you support, feel free to say, that’s great, you’re gonna do it ‘cause I still support this business case. That’s fine too, or you could just sit and observe. It’s totally up to you, but just want to make sure everyone had that information available as that’s the most recent update that would be moving through the budget process with.

[25:07] Okay, so this is, I will need a motion from Councilor members to open the public participation meeting. I see Councillor Frank as a mover, Councillor Cudi as a seconder, our vote will open up in the E-Scribe, please. Yes. Who virtually just said yes. Councillor David Ferriero. Mayor Bergen says yes.

[25:44] Councillor says yes. Councillor Stevenson. Councillor Layton says yes. Councillor Hopkins says yes. Councillor Stevenson, parking Councillor Stevenson absent. Closing the vote, motion carries 14 to one.

[26:32] Thank you, I’ll note for the public that you’ve just seen Councillor van Bergen and Ferriero join us remotely. Councillor Stevenson has texted that she’s joined remotely as well, so they will be as well. Okay, so based on the advice of the clerk, as it’s a public participation meeting without delegates per se, I’m going to ask IT to go to K.M. Pajnaolo. I know that they are virtually here with us.

[27:06] And then for anyone who would like to speak, you are welcome to line up at a microphone and I will rotate between. And like I said, we’re going to be here till we’re done. I will also ask people as we go to state their name for the public records and ideally the spelling of it. You don’t have to give your name, that’s okay. And it used to be you give us your address, do not give me your address. You’re welcome to, but we don’t need that information. And this is recorded in online for all to see, so please be mindful of that if you decide to do that.

[27:41] Okay, to our guests on Zoom, please state your name and you have up to five minutes. Thank you, thank you for hearing from us today. It’s Christy Pagnello, EAG, N-I-E-L-L-O. I’m the executive director of Neighborhood Legal Services in covering London and Middlesex. We as many of you know are your local poverty law clinic that helps the most marginalized in London with issues around legal issues and housing income maintenance and employment law. Our housing work is devoted 100% to preventing and defending against evictions.

[28:19] And so I was here to speak to two issues. One apparently has been resolved. I will say for the record on the issue of extreme clean, you have our written submission, which on both of our issues, I’d encourage you to read. But that’s fantastic that it looks like there won’t be a budget amendment required for funding for extreme clean as there appears to be a commitment between existing municipal funds and the province. I heard a few things like hope and planning.

[28:55] So I’m hoping that I’m hoping that it’s actually for sure. But in case something goes sideways on that, you have our written submission. And we can say that the extreme clean and hoarding program is crucial for preventing homelessness, which you’ve got lots of materials on. But what you don’t have a lot of material on is the issue of how we use programs like Housing Stability Bank, which I’ll speak to in a minute, and Extreme Clean to do something else, which is not just preventing homelessness and preventing someone from being addicted who then costs you all a lot of money as they move through the system.

[29:31] But we also use these programs to essentially protect our precious affordable housing stock in the city of London. So I wanted that’s a good segue into the last, but I want to talk about which is our pitch today for expanded funding for the Housing Stability Bank that was denied in the regular budget process. We believe there’s an arguable case for you to look at that business case again, to treat it, to do an amendment under costs or review order, a corporate or service area budget shortfall as a result of changes in economic conditions.

[30:12] So the Housing Stability Bank is another way that we help people stay housed and prevent homelessness and protect our affordable housing stock. Currently, because of not getting expanded funding, it had to pro-rate their monies such that they run out of money to help tenants partway through the month, in a number of months, this has happened. So we’re pitching today that the being amendment to give them the extra money they need to run at full capacity every month. And this again, similar to why Extreme Clean is so important, we can tell you we are the ones here in the trenches every day, going before the landlord and tenant board, trying to resolve cases and keep people housed.

[31:00] A lot of those people are people who are living in units that we would all agree are affordable. They’re not, so I’m not talking about rent gear to income units. I’m talking about units that over time have stayed affordable because people have lived in them for a long time. And what a lot of people don’t understand, and it’s really important, and I really want council to hear me on this, is that that, the law that says a landlord can only increase the rent by the guideline amount every month, that doesn’t apply once a unit is vacant for a day.

[31:35] So if you have, so a lot of these people who are in a unit and they’re paying eight or 900 or even 1,000 a month, in that range for a decent place, if you can keep them housed and that rent only goes up the allowable yearly amount, which this past year was two and a half percent. If they’re evicted because they’re too disabled to get rid of their stuff or they have mental health problems that have caused them to fall behind in their rent, they just need that little bit of extra help from the Housing Stability Bank to stay housed.

[32:10] If they don’t get that help and instead they’re evicted, that landlord for that unit can set any amount of rent they want. And in this market and in London, what we’re seeing is that sometimes a doubling of the rent that the previous person would have. 30 seconds. So those are my submissions and we really encourage council to consider these programs and particularly Housing Stability Bank expansion funding as a way to protect our affordable housing stock in London. Once it’s lost, it’s gone forever.

[32:43] Thank you. Thank you. How are you tingling top corner on this side? I believe somebody said the mic, perfect, go ahead. Hi, my name is Penny Moore and I did put a submission in. I’m glad about the screen screen. Just as I mentioned, they come in, but they don’t just help clean and organize. We go through a 16-week program and this is the book. If any of the councilors want to sit with me and go through the book that we have to go through a 16-week training about preventing us going backwards, I’m glad that I hope you keep the commitment that you made.

[33:32] And also with the stability bank, we need it because I lived in an apartment for 20 years and my rent was 400 when I moved out. The landlord was allowed to move to Kirk over $2,000 for that apartment. And I looked on the internet yesterday to look at the cheapest rent in the city for apartment. About your apartment is $12.95. That is more than what we get on our disability or OW or anybody that is low income.

[34:11] Affordable is not affordable anymore. And we need the homeless prevention. We need tiny homes like St. Thomas, Garbage and Fenton has built. We need to, an ounce of prevention is a pound a cure. If we have these homeless prevention programs, then we’ll reduce the encampments and the garbage that is left behind and the safety comes back to our city.

[34:47] I don’t feel safe in our city. I’ve been chased by homeless people and I even call police and then taken three hours for them to show up when I was chased by a homeless person with a metal bra. Please look into the submission line submitted and please support these people. Thank you. Thank you. I will note that the added agenda has plenty of submission on page 23. So thank you, it has come through. I’m going to go to the top corner over here and then I’ll go lower, right, and then do a circle.

[35:27] So my name is Anna Maria Velastro. I’m here to suggest that the police budget be reviewed as a whole and not like these little tiny picking things here and there as a whole because the public never got a debate on the police budget ever. It was shut down and I think Londoners deserve to review the police budget as a whole. And with the assistance of the corporate branch of the London police services, we looked at their annual report from 2023. Emma, I’m assuming the board looks at those reports as well.

[36:02] And what we found was that crime rates actually went down since 2021, since COVID. Not just by a little bit, but by, you know, a good amount. For example, violent crime went down by 4%. And overall criminal code crime went down by 5%. Yet the London police services board, which includes the mayor, Susan Stevenson and Councillor Lehman, ran and paid for an expensive public relations campaign aimed at telling Londoners their city was safe.

[36:38] And in fact, the police data didn’t support it and the city’s actually getting safer and not more unsafe. And so I don’t think, so I think they ran intentionally a very strategic campaign based on fear so that they could get Londoners behind a police budget that is an increase of over 60%, almost $700 million, 60% of their last budget. Okay, so I felt that the board lied actually, assuming they look at those stats themselves, which I’m assuming it’s part of their job to look at those annual reports.

[37:23] Councillor Palosa, point of order, please. Sorry, I’m just pausing the speaker’s time, recognizing a point of order, Deputy Mayor Lewis. The speaker has implied that the members of the board lied the public, that is inappropriate to suggest that from a member of the public with respect to the elected board, including the appointees of both the province, it is not appropriate for decorum in this chamber. Okay, just one second.

[37:58] I thought I heard she felt that they lied versus they lied. So just, we do serve in different capacities on agency boards and commissions. So just be careful with our words of, yeah. I’m saying from the data and the public relations campaign that was run, it is my opinion that the board was misleading. And I think that was done intentionally. Like I’m saying, I believe it was a strategic, calculated campaign to mislead Londoners, to make them feel like their cities was unsafe when it was actually getting safer to rationalize a 60% increase in the police budget, up to $100 million and sacrificed and took funding away from social services and not for profit agencies that in my view do all the heavy lifting.

[38:53] And I don’t think people understand how vital they are to keeping the city in order. And so they were willing to cut those budgets and not cut a massive police budget of like short of a billion dollars and denied Londoners a debate on that budget as a whole. Okay, and so now we got another board member saying that he’s looking for donations for a light armored vehicle to save the taxpayers half a million dollars, which we all know is nothing. And it’s just an excuse not to go back and revisit the police budget as a whole and just look for some savings to bring tax relief ‘cause a lot of people can’t afford this budget on their house.

[39:36] A lot of people can’t carry those taxes on their house. They’re actually at risk of losing their house or they’re struggling. I don’t think that’s fair. And I also think that having a campaign on fear to get what you want, perhaps Londoners to more draconian policy, like removing their charter rights as advocated by Susan Stevenson. Okay, or by the chief of police that wants to arrest open drug use, rather than redirecting them to safe consumption sites, which is good for them and good for everybody.

[40:13] So I think you need to reopen the police budget and you need to give Londoners the debate they deserve on the whole budget and not this silly piecemeal thing here, reserve funds and donate an armored car vehicle. That’s just nothing. It needs to be a respectful debate, the real deserve. Thank you. Thank you. I do try to provide leeway to guests in the audience. I’ll recognize some of these silly emotions with the love are mine as well.

[40:46] And anything through this budget process is discussed and talked about if there’s emotion on the floor. So that’s when we get to Thursday, as long as there’s emotion on the floor, it reopens the debate on what we’re talking about. So that’s why your feedback today of things that you’re prioritizing and what you’d like to see us do, you will see some of it if the counselors are interested in taking that stance on. On Thursday, that’s where you’ll start to see as we start that morning. So this is your feedback into that budget process. So I’m going to the lower mic on this side.

[41:22] You have up to five minutes and if you would like to state your name, please start. Counselors, Mayor Morgan, good to see you all again. I’d like to second everything said by the speaker before me. Back in February, I spent a lot of time thinking about how to appeal to you in regards to last year’s budget. We all did, 75 of us came to speak and 63 of those 75 people were talking about reducing the police budget, begging you not to give 700 million dollars in additional funding to them. We told you how it would be detrimental to the community, how the housing, library, museum, transit, nonprofit, even trash cleanup services, you were cutting were infinitely more essential than 100 more roided up high school bullies dressing like video game characters, driving around in Dodge Chargers and light armored vehicles on our tax dollars.

[42:04] And we were right, but you did it anyway. You did it anyway. And what do we have to show for it? But an even greater heightening of class contradiction in this city. We made a crucial miscalculation in February to paraphrase the great Black Panther and revolutionary Kwame Ture. In order for moral appeals to work, one’s opponent must have a conscience and many of you have none, have none. So now you come back to us less than a year later and not only can you still not properly fund essential community and social services, but now you’re telling us you need to cut community grant funding to the people doing the work you refuse to.

[42:36] Am I appalled that earlier today this action? This council passed the motion called take no action? Absolutely, but am I surprised? Absolutely not. Take no action is like your de facto motto at this point. So congratulations on achieving absolutely nothing except further dissolving any remaining trust we might have had in what you do here. Councilor Lehman, we do not want to hear about how you’re spread too thin. We do not want to hear about a lack of focus on council. You clearly have a focus. It’s your own interest and your own political longevity. It’s the police vulnerable groups instead of protecting them. Elizabeth Palosa, I was at your all candidates meeting in 2022.

[43:10] You spoke about how you defeated an 18 year incumbent after challenging his every move for years. That’s as hilarious as it is embarrassing because as far as I can see, you’re just like him. Except you use a lot of empathetic rhetoric to mask your soulless policy decisions. I watched it happen around 1.45 this afternoon regarding that take no action motion, which you voted for. And I’d argue that your deceptiveness makes you an even more dangerous politician than your predecessor. So next time you come to my cafe to sip your $5.30 hot chocolate in comfort, I hope you think about your constituents who you’ve left out in the cold. Paul Van Bierbergen, I was at your all candidates meeting as well.

[43:45] You were one of the last people to show up. And when the debate concluded, you and the other two corporate interest candidates went to huddle in the corner of the room and pat each other’s backs. Kevin May, your runner up, remember him, was the only one to go out into the crowd to answer questions and shake hands. He was also the first one to show up, by the way. And that told me everything I need to know about you. Susan Stevenson, I didn’t spend that much time on this one because I didn’t know whether or not you’d pry yourself up here a lot. So I’m just pausing your time there. As much as I’ll take personal attacks on me, I am going to hold decorum in the room and ask that you speak to budget cases versus people’s procurement of hot chocolate.

[44:19] It’s related and my neighbors are dying, so I’m not as interested in decorum as you might be. Susan Stevenson, thank you for prying yourself off Twitter long enough to show up. Deputy Mayor Sean Lewis, you are one of the most austere politicians I’ve ever come across in my life. And during the course of these debates, you repeatedly use your time as chair to spew opinion in terms of the statements of other candidates to sue your agenda. And that is extremely unprofessional. And have this member removed. If they cannot speak to the budget, if they’re going to use their time for personal attacks, then under the council policy and procedure by-law, they are not speaking to the item on the agenda, and their time needs to be ended.

[45:10] Yeah, sir, you have not been formally asked to leave. It’s okay, he will hold tight. I don’t want to stop debate. I just really need it on budget. And I know that there could be a long list of many of us and things that we’ve done inside over the course, but I really would like to hear what you have to say about where your priorities are, and you’d like to see funding. I’ll also note that I don’t have your name, which is fine, so in the record, you’re just going to show up as unnamed, so just as long as you’re okay with that.

[45:44] So I don’t want to say a last chance, but please, you’re about three minutes of your time. So you still have more time left if you would continue and just try and keep it to budget comments. Thank you, Councillor. It’s all related to the budget, because the people who create these policies, you talk about how there are homeless people in concentrations near schools, and I’m really sorry about that, but your austerity creates that problem, and your police enforce that problem. Let me pull out my speech again.

[46:18] Looking away solves nothing. Denying food and water to those in need only prolongs the issues. You need to get the wax out of your ears, Sean. Thank you. Yeah, you’re welcome to stay if you want, or when you’re done speaking, you’re also welcome to leave, and I don’t believe with anyone in committee rooms. Okay, so no one in committee rooms at this time who want to speak, if that changes, I’ll let us know if we can change and share our space. I will go to the bottom mic on this side.

[46:53] If you just state your name, and then up to five minutes. Thank you, hi, I’m Maureen Cassidy. I’m with Pillar Nonprofit Network, and I’m here today speaking alongside, and on behalf of our local non-profit sector. A sector that works tirelessly to support our community through its most pressing challenges. You’ve heard some of them today. I’m here to urge you to amend Budget Amendment P2 to restore full funding for the capital innovation and grassroots grants to ensure this funding is directly linked to the tax-based, and not to reserve fund balances.

[47:29] I come to you not in a spirit of opposition, but with a commitment to collaboration, shared accountability, and an unwavering belief in what we can achieve together. The Community Grants Program is not just about dollars and cents, it’s about investing in the lifeblood of a community that takes care of its most vulnerable. Our sector provides the very services that bridge the gaps, often stepping in where government resources fall short. This program isn’t charity, it’s infrastructure. It’s what enables nonprofits to deliver services that align with the city’s vision.

[48:06] But here’s the reality we must all confront. The city’s budgetary decisions send a message, intentional or not, about the value placed on the nonprofit sector. At a time when nonprofits are being called upon to deliver critical elements of the whole of community system response, cuts to programs like this feel like the city is asking the sector to run a marathon while taking away their shoes. Yes, the generosity of an anonymous family who contributed $25 million in the community that has raised at least an additional $6 million is extraordinary.

[48:43] But philanthropy cannot replace public investment. Philanthropy as a partner, not a solution. It was never meant to bear the entire weight of systemic challenges. It’s the city’s responsibility to ensure that the framework within which these funds are used is stable and effective. To truly tackle homelessness, health and the intersecting crises we face, we need more than ambition. We need action. And that action must include adequate, sustainable support for the very organizations delivering these services.

[49:17] Our sector does not come to you with empty hands. We bring expertise, solutions, and an unshakable commitment to this city. But our capacity to deliver on those solutions depends on the support of this council. It’s a partnership. It’s about standing side by side, not leaving one partner to carry the load alone. So today, I urge this committee to view the community grants program, not as an expendable line item, but as a cornerstone of the city’s investment in its future. You can do that by amending Budget Amendment P2 to restore full funding for the capital innovation and grassroots grants budgeted in the 2024 to 27 multi-year budget.

[50:02] And by ensuring this funding is directly linked to the tax base, not to reserve fund balances. Together, we can lead with compassion, with courage, and with a commitment to making London a city where no one is left behind. Thank you. Thank you. I will go to the mic top left in the gallery. Yes, my name is Aina Bramwell, and I’m here to speak on my experiences dealing with bed bugs and other bugs in our apartments.

[50:40] It’s become, I heard on the national news, not too long ago that London is listed as one of the top 10 infested communities in Canada. And that does not stop in the low income, sorry about this, low income society in London.

[51:23] We have help coming in and provided to us for the people that have disabilities, but the help that comes in is inadequate. In some cases, we’re asked to leave our apartments and we don’t know what is anywhere. Our whole house is packed up into boxes and bags. Nothing is labeled, and it has been witnessed by myself and others that the same bags that stuff has taken down into the laundry room, those same bags are used to bring our stuff back.

[52:19] And it just prolongs the infection. We have to go through the process over and over, and I know of people in our building that have been up to six years going through the process and being tied up for six years with all your belongings in boxes and bags is unthinkable. You’re basically throwing out everything that you have for belongings, and you’re starting over again with a new bed and you have to get new bed, new couches, chairs.

[53:13] You have to do that on your own dime. And when you’re low income, to get a new mattress or a new couch to live with is what are you gonna give up? You’re gonna give up your food, you’re gonna give up your rent, you give up your rent, you’re homeless. It’s an unbearable situation. It affects your mental health.

[53:50] It affects how you’re able to live, and you end up being more of a problem to try to get into a doctor, trying to get into other services that can help you, which are not there. There’s, it’s just a very tough situation. I don’t know if you can even imagine it.

[54:28] Coming back into your house after being told to leave for six hours. If you have an animal, you have to find another place for the animal to be. The six hours is after treatment. You have to wash and wipe down everything that you’re going to use for eating off of. You need to thank you very much for letting me speak. That was your 30 seconds.

[55:06] So you still have a little bit of time. I just was trying not to verbally interrupt your personal story. Okay. It’s a life-changing event every time you get sprayed. Every time you have to get packed up, this is my story. Thank you.

[55:39] Thank you for coming and sharing that with us in this space tonight. It’s appreciated. Pop back corner on the side. There’s somebody at the microphone. If you want to state your name, you have up to five minutes. Thank you. My name is Megan Chufo, and I’m speaking today on behalf of Lifespin and the resilient low-income families and individuals we serve. The decisions you make in this multi-year budget have the most effect on the low-income members of our community as the resources are already limited. Cutting money spent on programs that low-income members find more stability, whether that be housing or income, only means spending more money in other areas as these individuals fall further into poverty.

[56:22] My recommendations for the budget showcase the need to support low-income members of our community and how that not only benefits them, but also the budget. My first recommendation was around reinstating the VHA home health care program. As a previous speaker spoke and I commend her on her story, she shared how debilitating living with bed bugs and cockroaches can be. I think this funding needs to be ensured so that people’s mental health can be. Mental health and physical health risk leave people living in units where bed bugs are biting them nightly where they’re forced to get rid of all their furniture due to infestation.

[57:04] No one wants to live this way. And halting funding for the VHA home health care extreme clean program has exacerbated this issue. With proper supports like VHA home care, we can eradicate the bug infestations and show those in poverty that their quality of life matters. I wanna thank Mr. Dickens earlier for clarifying that there has been some funding found, which is really wonderful. I wondered if we could clarify if that will include seniors outside of social assistance envelope and will they be able to access the funding available when needed?

[57:44] I’d say this isn’t a Q and A direct back to staff. Mr. Dickens can reply direct an email. If you sent it, just the space doesn’t allow for that but noted and he’ll be available for him to apply. Okay, thank you. My second recommendation follows pillars talk of restoring funding to community grants program to at least the levels in the multi-year budget that were promised. We have seen in recent years that London’s not-for-profit sector has seen an increase demand for services. We’ll at the same time an increased cost to deliver these services.

[58:16] Council has stated in the past that the not-for-profit agencies are key partners in delivering vital services that were laid out in the strategic plan. Without funding through the community grants programs, organizations like ours will have to cut and reduce vital services like our community advocate who is funded through the program. The precariousness of funding makes it difficult for not-for-profits to keep highly trained staff and disrupt services, putting further strain on the already tax sector. Cutting in the community grants program shows a lack of support for those most in need in our community, only pushing them further into poverty.

[58:54] To close, in investing in these solutions will ultimately save the city money by preventing reoccurring pest infestations and improving tenant wellbeing. Unsuccessful extermination efforts increase the upstream costs of our emergency services, which are called in to deal with the contamination and health and safety issues associated with unaddressed and unsuccessful pest extermination. Investing money through the community grants program allows the not-for-profit sector to continue to provide vital services that were laid out in the city strategic plan, making sure that no Londoner is left behind.

[59:30] Thank you. Thank you, and I’ll note that communication from lifespan was on page 16 of the agenda for your reference. Bottom mic on this corner, please. If you would state your name and then up to five minutes. Thank you. My name is Brendan Samuels. I don’t think I’ll need my full time. I know it’s been a very long day for those of you who’ve been here for a while, so thank you for making time to listen. My comments are not really about funding any particular part of the budget. When I appeared here for the multi-year budget, I focused more on the communication aspect of how we tell the story of the budget, and that’s what I’m gonna talk about today.

[1:00:09] My property taxes are going up like a lot of other people. That’s a scary thing. I worry a little bit about the community not having a good grasp of why the property taxes are going up and specifically understanding the role of the municipal government in delivering services. When we talk about things like homelessness being recognized as a really important priority for Londoners, folks need to also understand that that is not solely municipal jurisdiction. I heard it said actually earlier today at SPPC that this is a crisis, the encampments, solely at the feet of council, that’s not true.

[1:00:41] That’s actually a shared responsibility with higher levels of government. What I wanna pose to you for consideration at the next stage of deciding what to do with this budget is to think about how we communicate what the municipality is doing and what is resulting from changes at higher levels of government too. Now, obviously we have to balance diplomatic relationships with higher levels of government that provide funding for the city. I’m not questioning that. I think though that when I look at reports that council receives like on the climate emergency action plan, there are sections in there which talk about changes at higher levels of government that have impacted the delivery of services locally in London related to climate.

[1:01:20] And I think even though the budget does have a breakdown of different municipal services and the percentage attached to each, it’d be really valuable for Londoners to be able to understand the broader context spanning across the federation of Canada as to why our property taxes are going up, why we have more homeless people, why housing isn’t being built as fast as we’d like. I know that’s a tricky thing and I trust you guys to have a conversation about it. I just wanted to express from a community engagement standpoint, people will see their property taxes go up and they won’t necessarily appreciate why that’s happening. They won’t realize the good work that you guys are doing.

[1:01:56] There’s a lot of great people here who are really engaged, I’m really happy to see this room so full. It’s for the average Londoner, which I know you guys wanna hear from, that we need to tell the story about why this is actually a really difficult fiscal period for the city. Thank you. Thank you and thank you for being here with us during SPPC as well. If we’re ready, if now works for you. Okay, perfect. So I’ll do some leeway that you need to do the calming thing through it, that’s fine too, ‘cause everyone’s welcome to speak.

[1:02:32] So we should be cool, we might interrupt. So by we, I mean this one. So my name’s Taitan Mackenzie Pico, and this is Rowan, you wanna say hi? And I’m the president of the Board of Directors for Queer Intersections. We are one of the recipients of the grassroots grant from this past funding cycle. We’ve been serving the members of London’s two SLGBTQIA community since March of 2023. We support children, youth, families, seniors, and everyone in between with intentional programming geared towards all members of our community.

[1:03:06] We provide preventative programming that supports our community. So members do not need to rely on reactive core services that are currently overwhelmed. Until this point, we had been operating without a physical space. And I’ve been— Yes, it’s okay. I am talking, thanks. Until this, sorry, where was I? We’ve been running programming wherever we can to keep the cost free to our participants. With the help of the grassroots grants, we will be having our grand opening next Thursday, November 28th. You all got an invite. Check your mailboxes, please.

[1:03:38] I wish that this meeting was happening after our grand opening so that you could see all that we’ve been able to do with little to no funding. Even though we did receive a decent amount of funding compared to other organizations. Still, not quite enough. We are entirely volunteer driven. We have eight members on our Board of Directors. Our board meetings, to this point, have taken place in basements and around kitchen tables. Every single one of us has a full-time job and a family, yet we still volunteer countless hours of our time to support our communities.

[1:04:11] Our current funding does not allow for us to hire an executive director to run our programming. Therefore, we do it ourselves with the help of community volunteers that we have worked tirelessly to recruit. What many people don’t understand about the grant process is that when you don’t have money, grantors won’t give you money. Being able to access the grassroots grants at that grassroots grant is our foot in the door. Going forward, we can show how fiscally responsible we are and hopefully receive more grants. Times are tough for everyone and more people are turning to the nonprofits in our community to help support some of their basic needs.

[1:04:44] We’re opening a community closet as well as a community pantry and we also provide a nice warm space for our community members that is sober and free to access. With times being so tough, donations are slow. When you’re a nonprofit and you don’t have charitable status, donations are even slower. Without grants, the work that we do cannot be done. The space that we have would not exist and up until next week, London has been embarrassing, has embarrassingly not had a 2SLGBTQIA+ community center. Other municipalities like Ottawa, Toronto, Waterloo and Stratford, to name a few, all have their own community center spaces for their queer and trans population.

[1:05:23] Next week with the help of the grassroots grant, London will be joining those cities. It took many years for the city of London to implement the grassroots program. To have it canceled in one year is really devastating. The grantees that have been funded in the last cycle all serve our most marginalized populations, meaning that the city will be removing funding opportunities from our most marginalized people. The city historically, gently, thank you. The city historically provided $500,000 in the form of three different grant streams.

[1:05:55] The budget has not increased with inflation, leaving the grantees with less purchasing power over the years. The applications that get sent in by various nonprofits and grassroots organizations in our city amount to over a million dollars every year. Clearly, the community is seeing a need and is reaching out to get help from the city to support Londoners. I hope that council will recognize that cutting grant funding will only hurt our most marginalized in our community and will stifle innovative projects that can help transform London into the city that we all know it can be. Thank you for your time and I hope you consider continuing to fund all three grant streams with the historic amount of funding.

[1:06:32] Thank you. You want to say thank you? You want to say thank you? Thank you. Oh, thank you. So thank you for that. And colleagues can look in the inbox for that invite. I couldn’t easily find it so you’re always welcome to re-stand it and let me know to look for it. But there’s a lot in our inbox right now. So thank you for playing in that and for being here and I hope you have a good night. Hey, I’d like to go top corner. Yeah, my name is Rob Gable and I would like to paint a picture for you of living in the double whammy of on government assistance in community housing.

[1:07:20] As my friend here mentioned, the pest problem is escalating and when they actually do dane to do something about it, they often delay the recommended times of treatment which means that the bugs proliferate in that time. So very little is accomplished. But even where they do offer us help with prepping our units, their help is people who for the most part don’t speak English.

[1:07:51] So they don’t understand what you need done. They don’t understand that you need things left out. They don’t seem to understand that you don’t pack up fresh food in boxes under piles of other boxes. And they want you to leave the apartment now so they can pack everything up without any common sense as, okay, now try to imagine living in an apartment that is filled with towers of boxes for one month, three months, six months, in some cases years.

[1:08:30] Now imagine you’re in a wheelchair and trying to maneuver around that apartment and trying to actually live your life. My apartment has no room for me to ever entertain people because it’s a world of boxes and bags. But to look at another part of it of the picture, I would like to hardly entreat the government to reinstate the community grants.

[1:09:04] After COVID, the community I lived in, it shut up like a clam. People were in their homes, they were suffering from mental illness, from loneliness, with the various levels of government all playing games instead of taking my people’s lives seriously, the levels of stress are problematic nagging. It’s massive. And people who already have mental and emotional illnesses, that stress is just making them sicker and sicker.

[1:09:40] That is the reality we have to live with. But then those grants came about. And I started seeing my community opening up. There’s morning coffee once a week, paid for by a grant through London Housing. But we were also told that there were other community grants available to do other events, to help us not only open up as a community, but also to bring awareness of what’s going on in our community to the people who live around us. And now we’ve heard that those grants have been pulled.

[1:10:17] I can very easily foresee the common area in our building becoming deserted again, because there’s nothing for people to come down to. Another thing challenging that is the woeful lack of security in the building. Funding for security seriously needs to be increased. I have no problems with the homeless community. I actually do try to reach out to them and communicate with them and show them that they’re appreciated in the community and that people are listening.

[1:10:53] But the people who have mental and emotional health issues that are homeless, they’re a menace. They’re coming into our building. There’s no real access control. And they’re causing property damage. They’re threatening people. They’re injuring people. They’re stealing. They’re populating the pockets of multiple drug dealers living in the building, which I can’t legally identify. But it’s a hellish existence. And as someone who suffers from severe persistent depression, that’s constantly dragging down at me.

[1:11:37] I know you’re not here to solve my problems, but this is a large group of community of people that are living in a society that is suffering. And we are told by people that are supposed to help us that we need to lower our expectations, lower expectations below common human rights and common decency. 20 seconds. Is that fair? Thank you.

[1:12:12] Thank you. Top corner of this gallery. There’s a person at the microphone. So if you want to state your name and you have up to five minutes, welcome. Hi, I’m Grant McDonald. I want to take a moment to speak and talk to you about the arc. It’s very important to me. The arc is more than just a place. It’s a lifeline.

[1:12:45] For those who need help, including myself, over the years, the arc has supported me in so many ways. Meeting the needs that otherwise would not have be met, whether it’s food, clothing, or a safe space. The arc has always been there for me and many community members.

[1:13:26] The services are not just helpful. They are lifesaving. Without the resources, the arc provides countless people would suffer and sadly, many would not survive. Life can be unpredictable. And for those of us facing challenges, having a place like the arc is the difference between hope and despair.

[1:14:08] One of the things I deeply appreciate is how the arc stands with us, even as we face constant hardships, our belongings can be ruined or stolen on any given day, leaving us to pick up the pieces again and again. The arc steps in offering support, and it feels like no one else.

[1:14:48] For me, the arc is more than just a service provider. It’s a community, it’s family, it’s friends. It’s a place where people see you, where you’re treated with dignity and respect, and where you can feel like you belong. I honestly can’t imagine what life would be like without it. Losing these services would be devastating, not just for me, but for so many other community members.

[1:15:28] So when you think about the arc, I hope you see what I see, a beacon of hope, a place that saves lives, a community that makes life a little brighter. For those of us who need it the most, thank you. Thank you very much. Once again, even though we’re super supportive, we’ll have to hold our applause, or do you silent once?

[1:16:03] I will go to the lower mic on this side. Your name and then you have up to five minutes. My name is David Pasquino, that’s P-A-S-Q-U-I-N-O. I’m a chartered professional accountant, and the director of finance at a London Not-for-profit organization, which does not benefit in any way from the city budget. I have an undergraduate degree in criminology, and I’ve acted in more than 23 local community theater plays over the past 11 years. I love theater.

[1:16:35] This past February, I sent an analysis of the city’s budget since 2002 to all counselors and the mayor. And when I examined data specific to key community services like the library, museum London, and the London Arts Council Community Arts Investment Program, I like and compared those against the overall agency boards and commissions, the ABCs, the police, the transit and others. I found that over the last 22 years, these institutions received significantly smaller average annual increases compared to the larger ABCs.

[1:17:10] And to put this into perspective, the London Police and transit services account for over 92% of the total budget for all of the ABCs. Also in February, I asked that the police find areas to trim their budget. Last month, they announced that they would reduce their 2025 budget by $850,000, which would be covered by their reserve fund. And while I applaud this action, I really do. It begs the question, how much do they have in their reserve fund? I work with budgets and highly doubt that it’s half or even a quarter of what’s in the reserve.

[1:17:47] Maybe it’s 10%, which would believe over $7.5 million still sit in there untouched. I would really like to see the actual numbers though. What I’m asking for is transparency. I’d like to know how the police budget was spent this year and whether they hit their hiring targets among other expenditures. If they didn’t, shouldn’t their budget amounts for next year be adjusted? The police services budget is one of the primary drivers of increased property taxes in the city. And with such a significant portion of taxpayer dollars at stake, we deserve full transparency about how that money is being spent.

[1:18:25] Especially when it’s not being used as was advertised, which brings me to the troubling use of public funds. The police board’s decision to give $104,000 to navigator, a PR firm whose slogan is, when you can’t afford to lose, to help sell their 2024 to 27 budget to city council and Londoners. In my view, this is an inappropriate and unethical use of public funds. It’s a betrayal of the public trust. In a letter that I sent to all city councilors, the mayor of the police board, Terence Kernahan, our MPP and Peter Frajascatos, our MP last month.

[1:19:04] I asked that this $104,000 be returned to the city and reallocated to the organizations that didn’t receive their full funding request in the 24 to 27 budget. I also asked that the members of the police board be dismissed except for the mayor who is required to be on the board. Furthermore, that the city councilors on the police board as well as the mayor should be excluded from voting on matters related to the police budget due to inherent conflicts of interest. I must also address the deeply concerning issue raised in the London police services, systemic racism report released in August 2024, which according to the CBC, quote, “Paints a picture of officers who treat non-white people “in a domineering and rude way, often stereotyping communities “and using excessive force “while dismissing victims’ suffering,” end quote.

[1:19:57] As a community, we cannot allow this issue to go unaddressed. If we do, we become complicit in perpetuating these injustices and I will not be implicit. The police services needs to get their house in order. That should be a priority before hiring new employees into a broken system and before buying another baby tank, drones or electric vehicles. And back to that $850,000 that the police don’t need in 2025, oh, I’d love to see that to go to arts and culture.

[1:20:30] I do love theater. Organizations such as the London Arts Council, the Grand Theatre Museum London, I think it would best serve this city to be dispersed amongst social services organizations such as Safe Space, London Cares, Unity Project and others. This isn’t just about numbers or politics. It’s about public trust. Londoners trust you. They’re elected representatives to ensure that our tax dollars are being spent wisely and transparently. We can’t afford to allow budgetary decisions to continue without the scrutiny they deserve.

[1:21:04] Londoners deserve more than token accountability. We deserve answers. We deserve transparency and all Londoners. Whether we live in houses or on the street, deserve a safe city. Thank you. I’m going to the bottom mic on this side. I’m not sure. Oh. Yeah, no, I just didn’t know Sarah was going first or not, but that’s nice. That’s awesome. I thought there was more in the gallery up here. Thanks for chairing this. It’s a great meeting so far. My name is Chris Butler. I live in Sam’s writing. I’m also here to represent about five people in our breakfast lunch club that eats at Katie’s Kitchen out in Councilor Sousa’s last name, my apology.

[1:21:51] Yeah, Councillor Stevenson’s writing. I’ve been asked, we got to, two of us got to the East London open house in the budget and another of the member went to the other, and two have submitted to Councillors, just their letters to sort of see where we’re at. But I’m here to bring their message and my message to Council a little bit. We seem to be looking for funds and we’re not looking right under our nose. We just finished a budget surplus review on the by-law. Nobody did anything wrong with respect to the by-law, but I mean, in Sanity’s doing the same thing over and over and over again.

[1:22:33] And we’ve had three strikes year out where we’re actually taking in about 40% of our taxes are kicked back into this fund for 2022, 2023 and 2024. The budget surplus fund has taken pretty much for 40% of our taxes. So we’re saying that like three strikes year out, last year it was 8.6% we collected, I believe, and we had 3.6% left. And from meeting an affordability and a fairness point of view for taxpayers, look no further than that.

[1:23:12] We’re pissed off, we really are. And Chair, I don’t know whether we’re to put to that. We need to fix this. So that’s the problem and we need to move forward with that. That’s $28 million a year. The best I can see, forget the bets about water. That’s not what we’re worried about here. But we think the solution is to take this by-law and just put it aside. Pull this whole process back into the city’s budget as part of the city’s budget, concurrent with it, as part of the budget.

[1:23:45] It’s no longer a consent report. Takes the 1.5% that we have and used to have, which is what we get for our CCP and our early security increases. And leave that to pretty much the city to what they do now. And sort of work with that. But anything over that, from a point of view of cash payer fairness and affordability, should be credited to rate back to taxpayers. If there’s an emergency on council, something’s missed in the budget, that sort of thing, I think people would entertain very quickly that that be kicked back in some percentage or whatever.

[1:24:22] But that should go back to taxpayer. And no whining about whether it’s a one-time thing or a continuous thing, we know what it’s for. There seems to be opportunities to use both in the budget. So look, no further than that. And we’d like a motion made, sometime during this budget process, not to reopen 2024, although I would like to, but going forward to fix this and fix it really fast because that motion needs to be made and we need to do some work on whatever committee you wanna kick this down to so that taxpayers can really work on their affordability and their fairness for next year.

[1:25:01] That’s $28 million. That’s three points on our taxes every year, okay? All right, the next one was the DC fees. If you wanna put, I guess a pregnant pause in anybody’s vocabulary or answers from finance department, start asking real questions about DC fees, things like how much this cost or how much that cost last year, or how much Bill’s 23 is gonna cost this in 2025. And you’ll get some real diverse of answers.

[1:25:37] Let’s put it that way. I got the fairest answer I thought at the Eastlands saying, we don’t know what that liability is gonna be. It’s work in progress for 2022 or 2025. So here we are, we’re taking the best we can see. Let’s see, there’s three parts of this really. There’s DC exceptions, exemptions. There’s CIP programs for deferred DC funds that are transferred to taxpayers over 10 years. And there’s this new one called Bill 23, where we offload that just simply because I’m a taxpayer.

[1:26:15] 15 cents. - On taxpayers. So we need to fix that. And my group thought is we take the Bill 23 stuff and we say no to it. We let that in last year and this budget, just take it out because you’re reading my lunch at Katie. Thank you. - That’s your matter. That’s your five minutes. - Thank you. Hey, I’m gonna go to the top mic in the gallery on this side and then I will go to Zoom to VNO. Good afternoon, Councillors.

[1:26:48] My name’s Phillip Panaita school. I’m a ward six resident and tenant and a member and advocate of London’s acorn tenant union. We’ve already had speeches from a couple of my colleagues so far. Today, I’d also like to discuss budget amendment P2, i.e. pausing current London annual community grants program and implementing a reduced program. This will cut 500k a year in community grants to 250k per year with a total reduction of investment of up to putting to the report I was going through 738k from 2025 to 2027. Council, I’m sure as you’ve noticed from a lot of the non-profits that have already been represented so far, these grants are crucial to aiding non-profits that deal with problems like homelessness, addiction, lack of access to cheap and healthy groceries, helping unemployed residents and newcomers find jobs.

[1:27:39] Multiple of the city’s largest non-profits and community services already made their disapproval of this cut known. Many have already spoken, as I said, at this consultation. In the past four years, there’s been a drastic rise in Ontarians’ reliance on food banks, almost 134% usage in 2019 to 2020. People are struggling. And what are you redirecting these funds to? The LPS budget, the present four-year budget plan includes tax hikes of 8.7%, 7.4%, 6.4%. 6.8% for 2024 to 2027 respectively. More than half of the 2024 budget went into the police budget, which received a 28% increase year over year increase in 2024.

[1:28:23] Why are you investing more in criminalizing homelessness and militarizing the police force than the programs designed to get people back up and off the street? Council, last week I was at the renovation of one of our tenants at 1280 Webster Street. Six police cruisers showed up. Why are six police cruisers showing up to evict two tenants? One of which is an aging woman, and one of them is a neurodivergent young man. Additionally, this funding you want to perhaps be reoriented towards supporting the rental unit repair license by-law that you just approved in September. Design prevent bad faith landlords, such as Ontario’s landlord of 1,000 incorporated names, Michael Klein, from doing the notorious practice known as renovation.

[1:29:01] This by-law still does not contain clauses for rental top-ups or alternative provisions for temporary convicted residents. The funding could also go towards a tenant defense fund like that of Hamilton’s, helping low-income tenants access legal support when fighting bad faith evictions or AGIs. London, Acorn currently is relying basically entirely on duly-needed pro bono legal aid for our tenants right now. Thank you, neighborhood legal, if the rep is still in the room. Sorry, they were via Zoom. Council, it is community grassroots and non-profit organizations like Acorn, like Arc Aid, like any of the number of people that have already spoken, which rely on these sorts of public funds.

[1:29:40] I’m asking you, as public servants, represent your most vulnerable constituents like you were elected to do. Thank you, Council. Thank you, and before we go too far from Mike Phillips, you said your last name. Would you mind spelling it as I missed it? First name, F-I-L-I-P. Last name, do you need me to spell it? P-A-N-A-I-T-E-S-C-U. Thank you so much for being here tonight. IT, if he knows available online, they’re there. If you’re ready, you could turn on your camera and mic or just your mic and we would take your up to five minutes comments at this point.

[1:30:25] Yeah, I’ll just do, Mike, thank you. That’s perfect, we can hear you fine. So whenever you’re ready. My name is Vienna Knievela. Yeah, I just wanted to reiterate some of the other concerns that have been raised. I think that it’s ridiculous to give $700 million to the police and then cut very miniscule already community grants, which, as previously mentioned, have not risen with inflation already, especially with no audit showing where those funds will end up being used and what kind of surpluses they already had considering that they were then able to pull $850,000 to be removed from the budget.

[1:31:15] Yeah, I really question the mindset of counselors who want to remove funding from nonprofits, from communities, organizations that actually serve our most vulnerable populations and give that to the police, who, again, as previously mentioned, don’t have a good relationship with our most vulnerable people. Like, if you talk to any homeless person about their experiences with police, they will not have positive ones because the police just go and harass them and put them into a situation where they are more marginalized, same with communities of color, same with immigrant populations, same with the indigenous population of London.

[1:32:10] Like, I don’t think you can read a land acknowledgement and then give more money to the cops. I don’t think you can put together an anti-black racism plan and then give more money to the cops. It’s just not something that actually leads to a better or safer or more prosperous community. And I don’t think that council has a vision for the future where London actually gets better. And that’s a major concern because, like, as a young person, most of the people that I know who grew up in London have left and are so much better for having left.

[1:32:55] And if you want to create a city where people actually want to spend their lives here, or it’s more than just a generational stopover of parents moving here to raise their children and then those children leaving as soon as they’re old enough to, you have to create a city that is good to live in with affordable housing, with cleanliness, with repaired roads, with things that aren’t just over-policed and sad and poor community. I just really question the vision of the future that council is presenting with this budget, because it’s not a positive one.

[1:33:39] It’s, yeah, like, it’s Gotham City. Like, there isn’t any— there’s no positivity here. There’s nothing to point to and be like, wow, I want to raise my kids here. There’s nothing to point to that says, I want to live in this city for the long term and believe that it will get anything but worse, which is just sad and depressing. And I think that something that certain councillors have done before and after previous public participation meetings has been to note that the people who come out to these meetings aren’t representative of the city.

[1:34:27] But the people that a lot of these nonprofits represent are probably more, like, collectively than the people who voted you councillors into office. I just looked up the stats and not one of you broke 5,000 votes in the last election with the exception of the mayor. And that is a condemnation of the system that you guys represent, because you aren’t creating a participatory process.

[1:34:59] If you look at the budget document, it’s just not readable by a public audience. You have to have these specialized things. If you watch the information sessions, there’s still nothing that the public can actually grasp and be like, OK, here’s what’s actually happening here. It’s just specialist language that isn’t accessible, isn’t, like, helpful to the public. Yeah, thanks. That’s all I got. Thank you.

[1:35:32] Top corner of the gallery on the side, please. Sorry, that’s me. So just your name, and then you have up to five minutes. And if you wanted to spell it for the record, that’s wonderful, too. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Erica. I’m 22 years old, born and raised in London. I’m currently in university studying social work. Outside of school, I work with unhoused youth in the community. I’m here today to speak to Budget Amendment P-13, Shelter Expansion Funding for ARC-8. On October 11, our very own city counselor, Susan Stevenson, took to Instagram, stating, and I quote, “When hashtag London Ontario leaders listen to and pay for and hire people with lived and living experience, what is that experience woven into our homelessness response?” End quote.

[1:36:24] So I’d like to answer that question today with respect to why council should fulfill ARC-8 Street Missions Funding Request and continue to fund shelters. As someone who works with unhoused people and has living experience with mental illness, I see the need for more warm supportive spaces in our community every day. I see people suffering, both service providers and service users. I see people doing the best that they can with the limited resources that they have and being reprimanded for it. But perhaps more than that, I see the impact of what funding a police force over a mental health care system and affordable housing does to a community.

[1:36:59] For example, a few weeks ago, I responded to an unhoused individual in crisis and managed to de-escalate the situation by myself while six armed officers stood and watched me. At 22 years old, I proved better to be equipted at de-escalation, crisis intervention, and suicide prevention than a team of police officers. This is not a pat on the back. Rather, it is a blow to the stomach that this council continues to underfund the programs and people who are best equipped to provide care to those most vulnerable in our community. What might not be apparent to some of you in this discussion is that we are talking about people’s lives.

[1:37:35] This is not a dramatization or an overstatement. When people are left out in the winter elements for too long, they die. As you may be aware, after a first frost a few weeks back, arcades and 90 beds were full and they had to turn away approximately 50 people who were seeking shelter from the cold. This is not only unacceptable, it is unavoidable. So to answer Susan’s question in simple terms, if people with lived and living experience were at the decision-making table when it came to London’s homelessness response, I would not need to be here today because there would not be a homelessness crisis.

[1:38:10] People would be met where they’re at, not where you want them to be. We would not have city councilors taking to social media on consensually posting photos of unhoused people questioning their survival skills. We would not be funding the police in a blink of an eye will heavily debating people if they have the right to a warm place to sleep this winter. Not to mention people’s trauma, addictions and mental illnesses would not be policed by the very institutions that perpetuate them. I believe that another world is possible and it starts by appropriately funding beds for the winter.

[1:38:45] It starts with funding community and it starts with funding care. Thank you. Thank you, bottom mic on the side is next. Thank you for holding the listening session. My name is Michelle Richardson, R-I-C-H-A-R-D-S-O-N. I volunteered with the Arc since 2017, Mr. Richardson, I’m just going to pause you for a second. Some council members are saying they have a hard time hearing you. Yeah, feel free to move the mic. Let’s just do a check.

[1:39:17] Could you state your name again? Yeah, it’s Michelle Richardson. We got thumbs up and I will start your time again. Thank you. Thanks. I have volunteered with the Arc since 2017. We do a monthly dinner service and so I’ve seen a lot of changes over that time. I came out here to support them specifically but as I’ve been listening, I certainly want to reiterate my support for the other nonprofit groups who are also kind of in the same boat with their funding problems and including the grassroots organization. I think with respect to the new announcement on funding that just prior to the meeting starting that there is still the restriction about where the services can be provided for the Arc.

[1:40:01] And I feel personally that I’m shocked time and time and time and time again that there are these sessions needed. This is the first time I’ve ever attended one but I can’t really think of a time where funding wasn’t in question for these types of nonprofit organizations. In a lot of ways I feel that that question of funding these services and I will give a certain amount of respect to it’s not a solely municipal problem as someone pointed out earlier but it isn’t the case that you’re going out and you’re not seeing people in parks.

[1:40:40] You’re seeing the Arc empty. We’ve just heard about turning away 50 people. We’re not seeing the absence of the problem which would be to me the only acceptable time where you would question whether or not that funding is needed. It is a very complex subject. I do accept that where to provide funding to things like homelessness isn’t easily answered and there’s a lot of questions about how would you solve this problem but what I see is limitations being provided rather than suggestions.

[1:41:15] Even if something is a problem for example where the services are provided why not add the solution at the same time? In business it’s often said like if you’re going to provide a problem you should come with a solution but I just don’t understand why the limitation is there and the question of the funding. It really seems contrary to solving the issue rather than making it more difficult for those organizations to provide services. It’s even become a dividing line between those who have and those who have not.

[1:41:48] I see that people look down upon those that the Arc serves and other non-profits such as themselves. I understand why you would do that. I had a friend of mine who had a person on their back balcony very concerningly. They have a young child, I get that but that same person understands that if you needed a place to sleep and the weather is terrible and you’re raining and you don’t have an umbrella and you don’t have a coat you’re very quickly put in a whole other mood and hopefully you can go home to a warm place but if you can’t and you’re looking across the street and you think that you can get to that person’s porch I mean I don’t think many of you would hesitate if you felt that that was your only opportunity to keep yourself semi-warm, semi-clothed.

[1:42:36] Same thing with drug addiction. I mean you will create a whole lot of bad decisions when you’re a drug addict including bad behavior that we see downtown a lot but that person needs support to get out of it. If they could have gotten out of it they would have done it themselves and yet we spend a lot of time I think justifying that person who is acting in a terrible manner and what kind of support we should be giving them when the answer is they just need support we need to find the solutions because it’s not going away.

[1:43:11] I see the people at the are constantly going above and beyond what they’re funding allows. I’ve seen staff staying later than their shifts I’ve seen them bring in personal donations. I’ve seen them constantly finding a way to help more and more people in short and long-term solutions and one of those solutions is to fund it year round. You know, just that in and of itself to not have to spend the energy worrying about budgets to not have to spend time away from other services to stabilize the staff, stabilize the training that peace of mind would give you a lot of bang for your buck.

[1:43:48] So it is getting worse and I hope that we can look for solutions rather than those limitations. Thank you. Thank you, bottom corner on this side. So I’m gonna highlight that Ms. Campbell had reached out ahead of time and counselors inboxes at 224 today. We received an email including some of her slide deck and speaking notes for tonight. Should you wish to find that email and follow along. Welcome and you have up to five minutes. Thank you. I’m just hearing the announcement like everyone else around the horseshoe about funding opportunities and I’m curious.

[1:44:26] I have a lot of questions about what that means. However, I still think it’s critically important that people speak about the necessity of these services and counsels role in supporting these things. I’m pleased to be speaking to you on behalf of a significant number of Londoners who are deeply invested in the plight of those living deprived of housing and those for imploring you city council to take action on behalf of the most marginalized in our city by supporting our services but also many other services that you debated today. I’m speaking with the support of over 700 petition signers.

[1:45:01] There’s a link in your slide deck that you can see those names, the comments as well. I’m speaking to you on behalf of a board of directors who is deeply committed to this cause. Over 600 volunteers, some of whom you’ve heard from already. Over 100 staff who are dedicated to 24 hour days, seven day a week, holidays and every other time that other people have time off dedicated to this work. I’m speaking on behalf of over 60 faith communities that support our organization both by coming out directly to serve and financially and who align with the purposes of arcade street mission.

[1:45:39] I’m speaking on behalf of over 2,000 people who accessed our service in 2024. I’m speaking to you about more than 5,000 Londoners who engage with this organization and these services all the time. I’m also aware of the community partners that are in the room and the nonprofit organizations that we’ve been talking about tonight that are also looking for more support from council. You look to these organizations including the arc for solutions on a regular basis and we come.

[1:46:13] We come with plans, we come with strategies, we work together, we collaborate and then it’s difficult because I don’t think that there’s ever been actually a strong debate on whether or not we should care for people. I say that, I wrote these notes before I listened to SPPC today. You know, I think we want to do the right thing as a community, but the money gets in the way. We can do better together. This business case was asked for a bi-city council. We are offering you, I think it’s very important that the public here, what’s being offered.

[1:46:52] We received $4.3 million last winter to deliver 120 night spaces and services 24/7 around the clock for six months of service. And that, it’s costly because we have to ramp up staff, we have to find locations, we have to get the materials, we have to plan for off-boarding people. It’s very expensive to do short-term services. And we’re saying if we can stabilize those services, stabilize the staff, make sure that we manage our organization appropriately to respond to the ongoing need in our community, we can do better on a financial level.

[1:47:28] But we can also do better on a collaborative level, on an innovative level, on a level that says, what more can we do? So our board was very clear when we first brought council through spaces and said, we need a multi-year, ongoing year by year plan, that with stable funding, we can anticipate growth of services or responding to cold weather or doing more things as needed, up to 30% more. But we can’t do that, there’s no 30% more of zero. So this stable funding is critical.

[1:48:01] And so I hear that there’s dollars on the table, I’m super excited about that and I’m going off my notes because that’s new information. But we need to make sure that this is built into the multi-year budget because we can’t imagine that short-term funding or funding for up to two years is gonna hold us over until we have permanent, supportive housing, ongoing, affordable housing, enough housing as both a human right and as healthcare in our community. This is what needs to happen. And many organizations, many represented here, are working tirelessly to ensure that we have support for people so they can stay alive in the meantime.

[1:48:43] In your slide deck, I provided you a couple of slides about the cost of not funding these things. And the saddest part for me about standing here and advocating for ongoing, keeping up with these current spaces is that I know that I’m asking for us to fund not enough. We’re gonna fund and we’re still gonna have hundreds of people. My staff are gonna have to say, you can’t come in. And this is why it is so critical that we continue to have this conversation and you discuss it in the budget. 30 seconds.

[1:49:15] I talked about representing many constituents in the city of London, but truly for me, after four years of working at Arcade Street Mission, there are 40 people who I’ve sat and had coffee with who are no longer with us on this planet. They have died. I’m here personally because it is unacceptable for us to know the cost of not doing these things and then not do it. More people will die if we don’t fund these things continuously. And if we don’t find ways of throwing a life jacket to people out in the water, we need to help.

[1:49:50] And I’m grateful for the finding announcement. We look forward to how that will work out. Thank you. We’re gonna pause there briefly. I’m sure Ms. Campbell will be connecting with Mr. Dickens to see how this makes changes. Any counselors considering motions as we were made aware of one for budget will perhaps need to amend it, which is fine. I’ll highlight for colleagues that executive directors of proposed amendments, as long as we know they’re coming, will be available once something’s on the floor to ask questions. But please feel free to connect in the meantime.

[1:50:23] And once you read that correspondence, at this point, I will need a motion to proceed past six o’clock. I have a mover and Councillor Troso, a seconder and Councillor Frank, that votes opening in E-Scribe. That’s a vote, yes. Wear a votes, yes.

[1:50:58] Closing the vote, motion carries 15 to zero. Okay, just before everyone escapes, I’m just checking to make sure that no one’s gonna miss a paratransit ride if we take our dinner break right now. Okay, so we’re gonna do a vote to break for dinner. And just if you’re in line up at a mic, just try and visually keep note of who is next where we can try and respect that when we get back. So this is gonna be a hand vote to break now for 30 minutes coming back at 6.30. Motion carries.

[1:51:35] Okay, we are recessed for 30 minutes, coming back at 6.30. Okay, I just, I don’t have quorum, so it’s just gonna be a couple of minutes while everyone settles back in.

[2:23:37] So a couple of minute warning. Okay, if I could just have colleagues online turn their cameras on.

[2:25:13] I do have quorum, thank you. And Deputy Mayor Lewis is to you coming with your camera? No, that’s David. Okay, Deputy Mayor Lewis is gonna be logging in online as well. He’s needed to go virtual. So everyone who should be online in line. So we’re gonna resume. I’ll make note that the committee rooms are empty and have been closed. And anyone who’s still with us tonight is in the gallery, except for one speaker who’s still online, which I will get to shortly.

[2:25:45] So I’m going to continue with the rotation in this space. I left off at the top mic. I’m just, were you looking to speak tonight? Or you’re just, okay, I’m not sure. Mal, could I, security’s not there? Can I just ask if you help with the mic? Thank you. I gotcha. Okay, so just one moment. And then I’m just getting a speaker’s note. Yeah, just wrangle that mic right off of there. Okay, so when you’re ready, if you just state your name and if you want for the record, and then once we’re, that’s okay.

[2:26:43] I’m just gonna do a volume check of you. So I’ll say your name to make sure that we could hear you. Sharon, Villanue? Oh, that’s perfect. Okay. So whenever you’re ready, I will start your five minutes. Did you okay the name? Sharon, and then could you just state your last name again? It’s Villanue, V-I-L-L-E-N-E-U-V-E. That is wonderful. Perfect. And then we will commence when the microphone is secured. Thank you.

[2:27:26] Are you ready? First of all, I’d like to say thank you for allowing me the chance to speak to you tonight. I want to say I am a tenant who deals with and lives in low income housing. I also deal how dealt with the pest control issue and a lot of the other topics that we’ve discussed today. And if you’re in one of these situations, a lot of these conversations, they’re all gonna apply to you. So I really would like to comment on the, excuse me, the VHA home health care, extreme clean, extremely important for ourselves and our tenants as we have our dealing with severe pest control issues.

[2:28:13] I’ve personally in the 10 years, I’ve been in housing. It’s the first time I ever had to deal with pest control and these types of issues and it’s happened to me twice and through no fault of my own. And while I do recognize that tenants have a responsibility as well, there’s information out there, resources that are supposed to be available to us that we have not been informed on or have not been provided effectively. I think extreme clean is an excellent source, but I do think that there are some issues there that need to be monitored and that need to be spoken to.

[2:28:52] I also recognize that yes, some tenants do have issues. Because of disability or mental health issues and concerns like that, they’re going to need extra help. We don’t want them to get to the point of being evicted because they can’t manage to prepare for these services or because they have a hoarding issue. And what they need is the social services, a mental health worker, someone to come in and work with them on that. And I’m trying to find that service for some of the individuals that live in my complex.

[2:29:29] That’s what we need to do. We need to find those resources before we look to evicting these people, putting them on the street and having more homeless people. The homeless people that are out there, I feel for them. I have seen things that I’d never wanted to see. I left a meeting downtown this week and homeless people’s belongings were on the street where I catch the bus, on Dundas. And I felt for them, they weren’t there. They couldn’t guard their property. Maybe they went to the washroom. Maybe they went to get something to eat.

[2:30:03] Somebody else came along, rifled through what little bit of property these people have, stole it and walked off with it. And I’m like, are you kidding me? We have gotten so low that we were stealing from the lowest people that are out there, the people that are barely surviving. And we have people stealing from them because they don’t have a place to live. That really saddened me. I wanna talk about Kenneth’s defense fund. I think it’s something we really need to create.

[2:30:35] We need to look at. Because we need to have rental caps. Rants are getting out of control. And they’re not online with individual incomes. And we have situations like AGIs where landlords are applying for increases. They’re not valid, not effective. We have bad faith evictions where people are being evicted for absolutely ridiculous reasons. And all of these things are creating homelessness. By the end of December when you say these other encampment services, it’s gonna end. Well, I know two complexes, high-rise buildings that those like thousand people are gonna be out on street by December.

[2:31:13] So that is gonna increase our homeless population. As far as police and security services, I’m very displeased with London Police Service. I lived in different locations in Canada and the US. And London Police Service has been the worst that I’ve ever seen or had to deal with. I have called them very few times, but crucial times. They have not shown up in 24 hours. I did not get a phone call. I did not get a policeman to my door. I did not get a follow-up. Absolutely nothing.

[2:31:46] It was like I didn’t exist. So to give them more money to provide the quality of service we’re getting from them is a disgrace. I wanna see that money go to more security. We need more security in our building. I would rather see the money go to increasing security. 30 seconds? And then I would like to see when we have like LMHC talks and electoral talks and these, I go to them. But they don’t give us time to really give our input. They say you can talk at the end, but then they’re gone.

[2:32:20] They don’t hear us. It’s like we’re talking to you, but you’re not talking to us. And I’d like to see that improve. And so I won’t take any more of your time, but I would really like to see some of these issues addressed coming forward. Thank you very much. Thank you for those comments and for being here. I’m going to go to the top mic on the side if you would like to speak. Just your name and then you have up to five minutes. Okay, there we go. So I’m Ian Leishman with the Old South Business Association and Royal Page, although I’m not here on behalf of those organizations.

[2:32:57] I’m just here because I’m a born and raised Londoner and I’m concerned about the tax increase that you’re going to be burdening Londoners with. This is what you’re proposing. So when you add it all up, over four years, you include compounding. We’re talking about a 33% increase in taxes, but that’s crazy. And I’m sure that all the counselors here will agree on doing some great things with that money. And I’m sure that if you had twice as much money, you would do even more great work.

[2:33:36] But what I’m thinking of are the families in London, the average Londoner, the average household income, and will that go up by 33% in four years? Likely not, right? No one’s going to bet on that happening. So where do you go from here? Okay, you also got to consider that inflation has gone up and it’s come back down, which is great, but everyone here in this room is paying significantly more for their groceries, for household expenses.

[2:34:14] So something has to be done here. And I know that some counselors here are thinking, you know what? It’s going up by about the same amount. This is what they’re proposing in other municipalities that are similar to us. Well, I’d like to say that I think that we live in the best city and the best province and the best country in the world. Let’s show some pride of London. Let’s show some leadership.

[2:34:49] And I’m a little concerned with some of the leadership here. Not all the leadership, but some, because leaders lead, they don’t just follow. You don’t have to do whatever one else is doing. So I encourage the counselors here to go back and have a look at the budget and see if you can find some efficiencies, see if there’s some things you can do to stick to the basics of what the essentials are and try to get the tax increase to match what inflation is or close, because when you think of the families, when you think of seniors on fixed incomes who may lose their house and come on real troubled times, and you think of small business owners that are struggling during this economy, we gotta do something.

[2:35:39] So to wrap up, I look forward to city counselors taking some meaningful steps to do what’s best for Londoners during this challenging time. Thank you. Thank you. I’m going to go to the lower mic on this side. And then I’ll be going online just for IT is ready and the participants ready to Stephanie and Sean. So if you want to state your name and you have up to five minutes, welcome. Hi, hi, thanks very much for your time. My name is Jessica McPherson.

[2:36:12] I’m a resident of the Corps. I have children who go to school. I have a child who goes to school in Old East. I’m here as a supporter of Arcade Mission. And I’m also here as a family physician for the city of London, where I’d like to speak to the importance of stable funding for some of these groups who have spoken here tonight, and the importance of that for health, essentially. We’ve heard a lot about some of these groups in the critical, urgent, life-saving services they provide to people.

[2:36:44] And all of that seems like an acute need and maybe even a band-aid solution. But through the small opportunities I’ve had to witness the work that they do at Arcade Mission, and I know through other organizations that have been here tonight, the stable relationships that have been formed with the people that they provide services to, those stable relationships that might seem like an ephemeral kind of thing, that’s what we actually have evidence for helping people in the long term. So if we do a literature review and we look at the best evidence for improved mental health and improved physical health and improved likelihood of housing people and improved substance abuse treatment, a critical necessary part that we can’t leave behind is the stable, mutual, trusting, authentic relationships that are formed between the people who work at these agencies, and why I’m so happy to support agencies like Arcade Mission who form these relationships.

[2:37:50] And again, it seems like an extra maybe or a luxury or a band-aid solution. But if you want to make a case for what is evidence-based and what is going to make a difference for the people in our city, this is what is evidence-based and this will make a difference. And I did a literature review to see if I could find any evidence for policing making a difference, making, giving us those outcomes, and it doesn’t give us those outcomes. I couldn’t find any literature supporting it. So I’m asking you for it to please consider what will actually give the best long-term outcomes to the people that we care about and to the most marginalized in our cities, and that would be these organizations that need the stable long-term funding so that they can provide permanent staff and permanent workers who can form stable long-term relationships.

[2:38:37] Thank you. Thank you. To Stephanie and Sean online. If you would like to speak at this time, it’s your discretion if you would like to. Okay, yep. You’re welcome to either have your camera on or off. That’s up to you. And then if you want to just say hello, I’ll do a check for the volume to make sure we can hear you. And then I’ll go to the level. Thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening. My name is Stephanie Clark, and this is my husband Sean. We are speaking to you this evening as a mom and dad who is overwhelmed with grief. We are disheartened that once again, Arc Aid is having to fight for much needed stable funding.

[2:39:16] Our daughter is one of the 40 individuals, Sarah referenced at her time on the mic. Our daughter Olivia is the case study for what happens when London City Councilors under fund services like Arc Aid, her death in April 2023 is the direct cause and effect. We will never get another opportunity to hug our daughter Olivia again, to hold her close and to tell her how much we love her, to see her smiling face or hear her laughter. All because Arc Aid was forced to close his doors and say, I’m sorry, you can’t come in.

[2:39:51] London’s funding modules deemed my daughter unworthy of having a bed for the night, even though the temperature dropped below zero. Olivia deserved the chance to recover from her traumas, to come home to us, to thrive and reach her potential, but it’s too late for her. According to the Hub Implementation Plan, and I’m quoting, the document emphasizes the urgency and the crisis for the need for a rapid response to establish these initial hubs. However, it also acknowledges that the full implementation of the system with potentially 12 to 15 hubs will take longer and require additional consultation and planning, unquote.

[2:40:30] These initiatives are grandiose and wonderful with great thought and care. However, they will take time, time that unhoused people may not have. In the interim of these hub implementations, we are grateful that Arc Aid, London Cares and other community programs for continuously, and tirelessly advocating for the rights of people like our daughter, Olivia Clark, for being their voice when they are so frequently ignored. They are the touchstones to keep Olivia’s community alive so that they may one day access these hubs when they are built.

[2:41:02] Keeping the unhoused alive is the key. Being unhoused isn’t a crime. It’s a condition that needs to be treated not punished. We are living in a modern-day Les Misérables where unjust, class-based systemic ideals and policies turn good and innocent people into criminals. There is hope. The Hub implementation plan is wonderful, and we are hopeful that the new funding mentioned earlier this evening can alleviate some of the gaps. But I’d also like to ask the city councilors to help facilitate and navigate the not in my backyard mindset.

[2:41:38] So services like the Arc Aid and others can procure new locations. They are mired down in this red tape. I do hope there comes a day when Arc Aid is obsolete, but I think it’s naive and premature to think that that time is now. Implementation of solid housing first policies is a step in the right direction, but we must keep Olivia’s friends alive in the meantime. This is a matter of life or death. Olivia, again, is the case study for this. Thank you. Thank you.

[2:42:10] Thank you. Just one of you were looking to speak and not both. Thank you. Okay, thank you for being with us tonight and sharing your story of Olivia. I’m going to go in the gallery. That also concludes our online participants for this evening. So going to the mic bottom on the side, please. Thank you. My name’s David Rather, W-R-A-T-H-E-R. I’m a retired senior officer from the Canadian Air Force. And I’m also the president of the Board of Directors for Warner Place Senior Residence here in London.

[2:42:48] I’ve been working with Arc Aid this past year with their emergency services that we’re partnered with at the corner of Queen and William. And I just wanted to pass on some of the observations that are almost 90 residents that we have at Warner Place. They’re all seniors. Many of them have disabilities and all of them live in affordable housing that is probably the lowest in London. We’ve worked with Arc Aid for this past year.

[2:43:24] Before we brought them in, we had town halls with our residents. Many of them were very afraid to have the program attached to our building. It’s in a link building that attaches Warner Place Senior Residence to the former Bishop Cronin Memorial Anglican Church. They were very concerned because before this program, dozens of times each year, many of our residents were physically or verbally accosted by the homeless in the area. So they had a lot of trepidation about bringing the program closer to Warner Place.

[2:44:03] Since that program has run, we’ve had zero instances of physical assaults or confrontations with our residents. And only a handful of verbal negative interactions. There are, I think, only two of the residents who are negatively against or opposed to bringing in Arc Aid to Warner Place. There’s only two of those left now that are still in opposition. Everyone else has seen the benefits of allowing homeless residents a place that they could call home and feel safe.

[2:44:41] They respect the property. They’ve actually beautified it. They’ve worked at it. They’ve been very considerate to our senior residents who many of them are frail too. So it’s a population that is at risk. So we’ve seen that just in one year. The fact that multi-year funding has not been set in the budget is a concern of mine as well. And we have the capability to fill in the gap until there’s more permanent solutions such as the 16 hubs that are in the strategic plan and all the affordable accommodations or residents that are looking to be built or converted.

[2:45:33] We have an opportunity to multi-year fund the Arc Aid program at Bishop Cronin Warner Place. We have the facilities and we also now have the local community in support of this action. So I would ask you to seriously consider continuing to fund this on a multi-year basis and provide Arc Aid with the funding that they need to do that moving forward into the budget year.

[2:46:06] I would also like to bring up a second point of the affordable housing. We are trying to help the city and help the community at Bishop Cronin and Warner Place. Both of those are properties that were owned by the Diocese of Huron. So we work very closely with the Diocese of Huron and the Bishop. And we are looking to make that space with a new building for affordable housing.

[2:46:42] And like our Warner Place, we are 100% affordable and we’d like the new building there to also be 100% affordable. But we need the city’s help to get through the bureaucracy. We’ve applied for the RFP queues. We’ve been awarded to move forward. But the RFPs that are coming out and to suit the budget are not considering the amount of time that it requires to go through the bureaucratic process as well as the investment funding that’s required and the building of the new structures or their conversions.

[2:47:20] 30 seconds. So I would ask that in your budgeting, you also consider the timeframe to build new units or to build a new building in six to 18 months is not practical. So the funding in the budgets needs to be beyond 2027 and it needs to consider the fact that we have to go through rezoning and a lot of the other aspects to build the affordable housing. And we’re looking to provide about 200 affordable units if the city approves our proposals.

[2:47:53] Thank you. Top mic on this side. Feel free to tinker with that. I think so. Hi, my name is John Lean. Last name is spelled L E A M. That’s not good. We just can’t really hear you. So I’m going to go to the next speaker on the other side and then come right back to you immediately and feel free to take apart that mic in the end term and get it to where it needs to be.

[2:48:29] I’m going to the top mic on this side. Hey, down in front, just at your name and then you have up to five minutes. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. My name is Carolyn McDonald and I’m a volunteer at the Arc. I’ve been volunteering in the hospitality program for over a year. I wear my arc heart with pride. I apologize ahead of time because I am a terrible public speaker. This is way out of my comfort zone but I needed you to hear my voice and to speak on behalf of my brothers and sisters who are not able to attend.

[2:49:05] I just finished volunteering for today. We wear, we serve lunch and provided a nourishing meal. For some, it will be the only meal they receive today. I have worked in many places. I have managed many people but I have never seen staff like I have at the Arc. The compassion, empathy, kindness, and trust that it is displayed here is remarkable. This is, in my opinion, the true definition of love. They are the ears that listen, the shoulders that support each other and the hearts that fill with joy with our community.

[2:49:44] We stand beside them. We often see people who are battling addiction, homelessness, uncertainty, and perhaps death. Unfortunately, there are not enough police, social, or mental health services in place to assist this community but this is where the arc shines. Through engagement, housing assistance, food, clothing, showers, activities, warm beds, and warm hearts, we bring love to those who have been forgotten.

[2:50:20] I see people every day, forgotten. The men and women who’ve been cast aside. The arc is their safe haven. A respite for the weary. A building whose foundation is strengthened by love. Winter comes every year. This is a given. The arc needs yearly funding to ensure their mandate is fulfilled. London needs the arc. I see this every day. I hope, I beg, that you can see that too.

[2:50:55] Thank you for your time. And as we say at the arc, be held, be loved, be long. Thank you for your time. Perfect. And thank you for being here tonight and getting your start on public speaking. I’m going back up to the top as the mic issue has now been resolved. And please state your name and I’ll start your five minutes. Sure. There we go, that is better. Hi, my name is John Aline, last name’s L-E-A-N. I’ve been a volunteer at the arc for a while now. I was thinking tonight, it’s probably been about 15 years volunteering there.

[2:51:35] I can confirm what people have been saying tonight is absolutely true. The level of care that people get there is extraordinary. And it’s very, very important resource for the city. There’s just no question about it. I’m also a pretty conservative guy. I’m a business man. I’m a developer for over 30 years. I’m also a donor at the arc. So I just wanted to provide a little bit different perspective from a donor’s point of view, what I’ve seen is these funding cycles that are always about to expire.

[2:52:11] And it’s very hard to invest in a organization that might have six months of cash flow that you can count on and that you’re not really sure that the city is behind. That’s what I’ve seen all this time. And how do you make plans, hire staff, think about capital projects and put bigger ideas together when you don’t know what the rug can be pulled out from you at any time? And I’ve seen that and I wouldn’t want to run a business that way and I don’t think any organization should be run that way.

[2:52:45] I can’t really imagine a London where the arc wouldn’t be needed in one year, two years, three years, five years. So why are we playing games with the budget? And I know that budgets are a matter of art sometimes, but it just seems to me that you’re gonna need the arc. Why not just commit to funding it? It’ll be easier for donors to put money together. It’ll be easier for guys like me to get colleagues, raise larger amounts of money and reduce the burden of the city.

[2:53:19] So think about that. That’s would be a valuable thing if there was some stability to the funding. Okay, well, thanks for listening. Thank you. I’m going to go to, I don’t see you at the top mic at this side. So I’m gonna go to the lower mic on this side and then I’ll go back to my next side. Hi, my name’s Reverend Doug Peck and I’m a minister at Lambeth United Church. Like some people in this room, I’m not gonna name any names, but I went to Western around ‘98 to ‘02 and I was from another city, not Sarnia, but Scarborough.

[2:53:56] And I loved this city when I went to school here and at that moment I committed to making this city my home and always wanting to invest my time in here and invest my energy in it. And I’m really excited to die in this city, that not just work in this city and I just wanna state that. I’m committed to living to downtown and serving the London community. And it is disheartening to see what is happening in especially downtown, but in London in general. And we know it’s not just London.

[2:54:30] We know it’s all over Canada. It’s cities that have never experienced this before. They’re now experiencing it. And it’s so disheartening. And we’ve heard that the issue of people talking about mental health and I think we can all attest that we have all experienced some mental health troubles just from wrapping our heads around the human suffering that is going on, not just in our city, but so many cities. And I think it’s important whenever I hear Father Michael talk about the issue of homelessness, he talks about people sleeping rough, people living rough.

[2:55:07] And I think so often if we hear the words homeless, too often some people can look at that and find themselves being afraid and find themselves being very judgmental and thinking, well, what’s the issue? Why are they that way? And, but what it truly is is human suffering. And I think we all know that. And I think it all stresses us out very much and we all react in different ways. And that’s why we’ve seen some big emotions in this room so far.

[2:55:41] But when I had, when my church had Sarah come and talk to us, she just, she made the issue very simple to us. So many people can talk about addiction. So many people can talk about assumptions why people might be living rough, but Sarah painted out a very clear picture that housing and food has gone skyrocketing, has skyrocketed over the last few years. And what I bought my house for 14 years ago is just not what anybody could come close to buying a house for in London anymore.

[2:56:16] And so people are getting pushed into homelessness, a colleague of mine who ministers in a city not far away from here had an elderly woman come into her office the other day crying because she had to move to move in with her kids because she just said, I didn’t think I would ever be in this situation where I couldn’t afford to live anymore. The face of people desperately in need is very much changing. I went the other day to drop off some things to the arc and I was asked if I wanted to partake in a meal that day.

[2:56:53] And this is because the face is changing. But I volunteer at the arc once a month and I like to go there more than that because what I experienced there is hope and we’ve all heard it so far many times over and it’s not disheartening, it feeds your heart. And this is something so exciting. I know you are all so burdened and you’re here because you want to serve and you’re good people and you’re smart people.

[2:57:26] And somehow I think most police officers I know in London, Ontario are there because they’re good people, they want to serve people. And somehow we’ve made this some sort of a polarizing thing. When what if it was focusing on hope that helps human suffering? If a building were to collapse and people were under it, we’d find ways to help the crisis. And this is a crisis of human suffering and there’s just something so joyous that I experience every time I go to the arc, every time.

[2:58:03] I think you’re having an arc experience right now because we’re hearing people talk about the environment, about the relationships, 30 seconds. And that’s what I want you to be filled with right now. The humanizing experience that happens there, when you walk into that place, there’s pictures of actual people on the walls. And so you can’t just walk by them. You can stop, you can take them in and you can realize that, oh my goodness, beautiful people come here and Sarah makes a point of calling every single person, a volunteer, an employee, or someone receiving food.

[2:58:39] They’re all community members ‘cause one thing that she desperately wants people to know is that everyone is equal. Thank you. Bottom mic on the side, please. Please state your name and you have up to five minutes. I will not use all my five minutes. I’ll be very brief. My name is Ruiz Moffat-Landers. M-A-U-F-F-E-T-T-E-I-F-N-L-E-E-N-D-E-R-S. I’m a firm supporter and volunteer of Arcade, a new volunteer. Recently, I had the opportunity to write the stories of former homeless people and documented in the words of these individuals themselves.

[2:59:30] How the services of Arcade add contributed to transforming their lives, pulling them out of addiction, ensuring a roof over their head, and even obtaining employment. Arcade, as you’ve heard before, offers holistic services more than just food in a bed, but also support and counseling in a very inclusive and caring manner. 60 of these beds that are at stake or were at stake of not getting ongoing funding are transitional beds, which mean they help people ready to overcome homelessness with the support services that they need to reach that goal.

[3:00:22] And the gentleman before me here was speaking about them. We created this homelessness crisis by not building any social housing for many years and not providing sufficient inadequate support services. It is our joint responsibility to address this critical issue, and I urge the city to do its part and to fund Arcade year-round, year after year. Thank you.

[3:00:55] Is there anyone at the top mic? Just state your name, you have up to five minutes. Oh, my name’s Ashley. I was not gonna come up here. I work at the Arc. But there’s a lot of people that aren’t here that can’t speak their voices. That probably don’t wanna come here because they feel like they’re just gonna be screwed over anyways, and that’s how I felt most of my life. I used to go to the London Highbury, you wanna call it Hilton, St. Thomas’s Pike, and a bunch of other places that you’re planning to close that no longer offer people places to go or get better.

[3:01:38] So I went to recovery home when I work at the Warner location that our gentlemen just spoke about. And for a person that works there and that’s been there in those shoes, it also helps myself. But the fact that we can’t find places to put people in tents, that statement alone is horrible. And I know as even though I work at the Arc, I’m one paycheck away from there. And it is because of housing and social abilities and the COVID, this was before COVID.

[3:02:13] Now we’ve just got to see it. And there’s a lot of people banking on this, there’s a lot of people that get their lives back together and from going to the Arc and to another location, you can’t force people into recovery, you can’t force people into change, but giving somebody the benefit of the doubt that they can have a second chance or that they belong and knowing that it’s not just addicts. We have people from ages of 60 to 75 that are getting sent out of hospitals that have nowhere to go. And it almost puts me in tears.

[3:02:48] You know, I lost my grandmother about almost nine months ago. And if I didn’t live with her, she would have been living at that place, you know? And so thank God that there’s these places. And I hope that people get to hear, and you know, I wish people could come and just stay there for two weeks. And I know I say people in business suits and the buildings that don’t get to see it and you see the shit outside. But if you go inside and talk to people and listen to them, you’ll be able to see and hear, you know, what we’re all trying to fight for or against.

[3:03:23] Maybe we can just fight together. And it’s always about money and yes and this and that. And, you know, I just say it. The police just walk by. There’s all the police officers and everything, close it. And you’re gonna have more crime. You’re gonna have more hospitalations that are already getting thrown away. I’m a person that can advocate for myself today. And I had to have a counselor come with me to advocate when my mental health got a little bit sideways. Because I wasn’t screaming and banging behind a door. And thank God for that, because if I didn’t have that, you know, today we can advocate for each other, but our society is really messed up.

[3:03:58] And if you can’t walk down the street and like just look at these people as people, rather than piece of garbage or that they’re addicts or that, you know, this and that just criminals, they’re not, they’re humans. You know, and if you’d ever have to feel this pain, I hope that you just can turn a blind eye and be like, be thankful that you’ve never had to be there or had to witness somebody living in that. I’m gonna stop there. Thank you. Going to the lower mic on this side. Please state your name, you have up to five minutes. Welcome. Hello, my name is Adrian Keat. I’m a part of the London Knuckle Draggers.

[3:04:31] We’re an advocacy group for the people of London. And I’ve heard a lot about the arc. Even on the streets, they have a great name. They, you have a group of people that are doing it. They’re committed and you should be looking at these groups. They’re actually doing it and finding them and finding out where you can get the money from the groups aren’t doing anything.

[3:05:10] Not anything, just, we need a group like the arc to be able to really do what they’re doing. They’re the grassroots on the ground. I know a lot of money ends up going to the planning and the organization and hiring all the people to put the plan in action. But you’ve got people that are volunteering at 100, one to six or six to one. And they’re doing it.

[3:05:44] They’re putting in, and there are other groups out there. And I’d like you to maybe put, look into these groups and see who’s actually the outcomes and start putting more money towards them. There’s a lot of shortcomings and we’re starting to see it more and more. There is a man, his name is Thomas Anderson. He has no legs.

[3:06:21] He is probably just not the nicest person in the world. And I get that, but he has no legs. He’s in Greenway Park right now in a tent. His PSW sees him three times a day and he’s left alone at night. I’m asking you to help him just because he’s a human being. You don’t have to like him. You shut down for the two years.

[3:06:58] It affected a lot of people. Mentally, they lost their jobs. Some of them were down in that park telling me. Some of them are waiting for their surgeries. They’re here visiting. We’ve been spending our money on the Ram things. We need to start spending our money on the right things. We’re going to go into recession and we are gonna be in a worse spot.

[3:07:31] If we have this amount of people here, we’re not even there yet. We’re gonna have 10 times more. We have a record amount of mortgage delinquencies. Ed is getting more and more expensive to buy your groceries. And if you keep on taxing these people, you’re going to tax them out of their houses. They could have their house completely paid off, but they can’t pay the taxes. We need to go and put our money where it’s working, like the Arc, like 519 Pursuit.

[3:08:13] We need to make a difference. It’s not gonna get better. It is gonna get worse. We need to have security. We need to have sanitation, and we need to get rid of the safe supply. The government is creating an underground thing. They’re selling the ones, get the money for the fentanyl, and they’re selling it to the kids.

[3:08:48] And then they’re, so we’re giving the drugs for them to sell so they can get the stuff that they want. I encourage anybody to watch Atrocity. It was in the Forest City Film Festival. It’s put on by a doctor and a former police officer. Please give us a shout. It really humanizes our homeless, and we need to care for them. Thank you. Thank you. Bottom mic on the side of the gallery, please.

[3:09:21] My name is Darlene Boyce. I’m sure a lot of people around the horseshoe here know me as Darcy. I’m no stranger to the issues that are plaguing our city. My wife, I met her 40 years ago as a teenager living on this street. Excuse me, I got a bit of a laryngitis. I’m also no stranger to drug addiction as my sister and I have buried our brother who was a heroin addict. We all appreciate the work that Sarah and her staff and her volunteers are doing. But what is the issue that is happening in this city is there’s only one taxpayer.

[3:09:57] And it doesn’t matter how far you thrushed your hands into our pockets, there is no more money. So you people sitting around this horseshoe have to really start to evaluate where we are spending the tax dollars because as a gentleman earlier this evening said, we are faced with a 33% tax increase at the end of this four year budget. And where we’re putting that money is not going to the right place. If we wanna actually save the people out on the street and build the affordable homes that need to be built to care for the people that are in Sarah’s care, that are sleeping on our streets, that are dying from drug addiction, we need to prioritize where we’re spending that 33%.

[3:10:44] Because the gigantic police budget that has been passed needs to be reevaluated. And if we need to start funding Sarah on a year round basis to start saving lives, which is that is the work that Sarah is doing. She couldn’t save my brother, my wife 40 years. Nothing’s changed out there on the street. Nothing from the time she was a teenager on these streets. You guys need to put your priorities in place and reevaluate where we’re spending this money to get the biggest bang for the buck to help the people that are suffering on our streets.

[3:11:24] I need the rest of my five minutes. I have learned Titus sorry. Thank you and we did hear you well despite your learned Titus so well wishes with that. Gentlemen at the mic at the top corner, please. State, you’re naming you up to five minutes, welcome. Good evening, my name is Rob Clem and I’m a former client of the arcade street mission. When I first walked into the arc on December 26th of last year, I’d be living on the streets of London for eight years. I’d been diagnosed with anxiety and depression and the effects of these disorders had led me to drug addiction.

[3:12:00] The first person I met at the arc was Father Mike because the first person I’d ever spoken to openly about my life and how I felt about it. I asked him for help. He offered to pray with me and I accepted. I can’t remember exactly what we prayed but I can tell you that that prayer was a turning point in my life. I have not used drugs or alcohol since nor have I spent a night alone on the street. While staying at the arcade street mission, I was introduced to his 12 step program through an arc staff member who I’ll be grateful for for the rest of my life.

[3:12:35] Another arc staff member put me in contact with the St. Leonard Society where I have acquired a case management worker that has been teaching me about goal setting and accomplishment and helping me learn to our organizational skills. While staying at Conan Warner, I met a lady from Advocate Connections that has taken me on as a client. She has helped me attain my identification for the first time in years. Has helped me to get glasses and has helped me to add positive recreation to my life. She also helped me to obtain a first aid certificate and to register for an advanced first aid certification class and to the Applied Suicide Innovation Skills Training Program.

[3:13:20] I was, it was also through staff at the arc that I was introduced to Kevin Daly, manager of St. Stephen’s Recovery Home who took me in where I was able to spend time learning a program and steps of recovery. While at St. Stephen’s Recovery Home, the arc still continued to support me in many ways. I was even able to come to the arc as a volunteer and eventually became an employee. I’m now taking classes at Mohawk College in mental health and addictions and concurrent disorders. And tomorrow I’ll be registering to a mental health self care class through the Canadian Red Cross.

[3:13:57] I’m living proof that the arcades street mesh and changes lives and is making the whole world around us a better place. With the arcades street mission, none of this would have been possible for me. It’s where I found love, guidance, and support that I needed. And with it, my whole world has been changed for the better. I now live in a nice house with family. I’m employed at a job I love. I’m being educated in a field that I will excel at. I have loving connections with friends, families, and coworkers. I went to the arcades street mission and found recovery.

[3:14:35] Thank you. Just looking for a quick show of hands from the gallery of who’s still looking to speak. I know some people wanted to be more last tonight. One, two, three, four, five. Eight-ish, ten-ish, ten-ish. Okay, so now you know who’s still looking to speak versus those who are just watching. So as I said, there’s no one in committee rooms, no one online, so it’s just this room that we’re working our way through. So I’m gonna go to the mic on this side. My name’s not important. What is important is I wanna thank Susan Stevenson, my counselor, Ward, for making you guys aware of the issues in my neighborhood.

[3:15:11] Like my wife who spoke earlier said, “I’m one of those kids 40 years ago “when you would have been a young man. “When I was young, I was 13.” You remember downtown when we used to cruise the streets? The arc wasn’t even open then. Where was the system for me? I was in limbo as a 13-year-old living on the street. I worked with YOU. I lived at the LPH. I went to school at the LPH. Nobody helped me, nobody.

[3:15:46] I was too young for welfare and too old for children’s aid. That’s the truth. Did I starve? Yeah, I starved. Did I go without water? Yeah, I did. But you know what? I kept going to school and I got a grade 12 and I got a job and I went to jail and I’ve been around the block and I was an addict and now I suffer from PTSD. Complex PTSD, they say. I wonder why.

[3:16:18] Yet here I am today and Sarah will attest that I’m a landlord because you know what? She came to ask me to rent one of my properties and you ask why probably in your head. So I’ll tell you because I rent affordable living spaces. I rent houses under $1,000 a month for a three-bedroom all-inclusive and thanks to your raises, your 33% increase. I now say goodbye to two of them because I can’t afford it.

[3:16:54] I’m on a fixed income. My wife has had a double bypass because she couldn’t get help because the government said we have to send police and ambulances to overdose to people who choose to do what they do and don’t give me the guilt. That’s not what they need, okay? What you need is you need these people to fall hard down, have nothing. Then they will strive to climb up.

[3:17:29] I did it. Not one person of all the times I’ve told my stories when they say we use living experience. Well, I’ve got money now. I’ve got property. I made it without any help, without any tax money. As a matter of fact, I refuse to take welfare. You know why? Because I never paid into the system. So I never stuck my hand out. You need to learn how to teach a person to fish. Not just hand them to fish.

[3:18:05] Have a good evening. Thank you for your time. Thank you for. And by the way, I can’t afford the tax raise. So if you increase 33%, say goodbye to my last rental. And the woman and her husband that are retired will send you a letter because they’ll be on Sarah’s doorstep looking for a home. Thank you. Going to the bottom mic on this side. Welcome to state your name for the record.

[3:18:40] You have up to five minutes. Hello all. My name is Mel Sheehan. I’m going to take a little bit of a break from all the arcade stuff. I support that. But I just want to bring counsel’s attention to maybe an amendment that I think should be made to the budget. There are three business cases that, me as a person of lived experience of over 20 plus years, would probably benefit from, as would probably a lot of people in similar circumstances to myself. Being unhoused and not being eligible or qualified for a bunch of the outreach and housing services presently available.

[3:19:17] The first one I would like to bring to people’s attention from perhaps an amendment to include is P-19, which is the landlord engagement retention and head lease program. This is a program set up through the city that is supposed to help people that perhaps don’t have the best credit history, don’t have the best rent history to be able to still get housed through coordinated access. This was denied as part of the budget initially and I would like to see an amendment to include that. We’re looking for option, we were, I was at SPPC earlier, we’re always talking about we need more options.

[3:19:53] This is an option for people to get housed. This is an option to get people off the wait list into housing, two birds, one stone. Another one that I would like to see amended to be included is P-20, which is the roadmap to 3000 units enhance portable housing benefit program, which again kind of falls into P-19, but also helps people to get housed in affordable and afford even market rent housing at times. Again, this is an option for people to get housed that is there, that should be supported, but somehow wasn’t.

[3:20:34] Another one, and the last one is P or sorry, P-21, the Regeneration of Community Housing, which also didn’t make the budget update. This will help to bring present units up to code that probably need it. Actually, there’s no probably, they do. This also will help keep people housed that are presently housed in those units. So while we’re talking about options and New York being an option we should also be maybe reconsidering some other options that we passed on the first time.

[3:21:10] So I would heartily encourage an amendment to be made to include P-19 through 21. Thank you. Thank you. Looking to see if there’s someone at the top mic on this side. If you want to state your name and you have up to five minutes, welcome. Hi, my name is Wendy. Last name, Bag Winding, have fun. Just kidding, B-H-A-G-W-A-N-D-E-N. As a business owner in the Hamilton Road area, I’m here to express my deep concern about the growing homelessness crisis in our city and the critical role ARK aid plays in addressing the immediate needs of our most vulnerable residents.

[3:21:50] Without ARK’s ongoing support, we face an even more dire situation. One that will only exaggerate the challenges we already see on a daily basis. Let me be clear, the homelessness crisis is not just concentrated on Dundas Street or because of ARK aid. Homelessness is pervasive issue across the city, across the entire country. We cannot continue to point fingers, lay blame, and attempt to shut down or cripple the work of organizations like ARK aid that are doing hard, compassionate work of helping those who need it most. ARK is providing a lifeline in a time of need and pulling support from it will only create a larger, more desperate crisis.

[3:22:27] We’re nearing the end of November and yet there is still no clear winter response program in the city. How many more people will have to suffer or die before the issues taken seriously? The people living on our streets are human beings, not statistics or problems to be swept under a rug. We are bound by law to treat animals with more compassion than we show these individuals. Why are we not holding ourselves to the same standard of care for our fellow human beings? The solution is to not push our most vulnerable further into the shadows. The solution is to support these organizations like ARK aid that provide shelter, dignity, and hope.

[3:23:05] If ARK loses its funding, the surrounding businesses will face an even larger population of people with no support, no shelter, and no options. This is not just an issue of social justice. It’s an issue that impacts the entire community, including local businesses like mine. I urge you to reconsider any decisions that would cut funding to ARK aid. The organization provides critical services that our community cannot afford to lose. Helping our most vulnerable isn’t just a moral imperative. It’s essential for the well-being of the residents and businesses in our city.

[3:23:40] Thanks. Thank you. Looking to see if there’s someone up top at this mic, saying no when I’ll go to the lower mic. Welcome, state your name, if you wish, and you have up to five minutes. Hello, my name is Rudy, city council. Please tell me how can we expect a person with no shelter, no regular meals, no access to a shower, or a person struggling through addiction to pull themselves out of it with zero support. It’s just not possible. You can’t do this without support from other people.

[3:24:15] During the last city budget meeting, you approved a $672 million police budget increase and a 28% increase in spending overall throughout the year. You were urged by community members, social outreach workers, neighborhood legal services, London cares, home health care, and the ARK, and many more not to approve this absurd increase. To use that money to support your community, create a short-term winter plan for those of us facing homelessness and the threat of winter weather to support the London Food Bank with its usage at an all-time high right now, you didn’t listen to us.

[3:24:49] In fact, Mayor Josh Morgan wasn’t even at the meeting, and now that you’re on a deficit, you threaten to cut even more funding to our nonprofit organizations. Throughout this year, safe injection sites have been shut down to save for a supply program, a program that I rely on as a trans youth has decreased funding. It’s always an excuse of health and safety, yet shelters are being closed and refused funding all over the city. People who have never had to worry about their next paycheck complain about the homelessness crisis, yet do absolutely nothing to support them. You pass motions such as the take-no action, the title of mine makes me nauseous.

[3:25:25] Your city is screaming at you for help, but you’re completely useless to us. At this point, I have to believe it’s out of spite. At the last budget meeting regarding the police budget, I heard a few shop owners complaining about people sleeping or using drugs outside of their stores. They advocated in support of increased policing and surveillance, literally calling the unhoused people the bad guys as if life is some sort of comic book. The throwing them in the back of a cop car or in a jail cell or labeling them as drunken disorderly doesn’t solve the homeless crisis.

[3:26:00] All you’re doing is pushing them around from point A to point B, out of sight, out of mind. You complain about the unhoused existing in your world, yet you refuse to do anything to prevent it. The only way to end this crisis is prevention and support through the nonprofits and grassroots organizations. Back in 2021, I volunteered at the Mission Arcade Kitchen. Every day, I met people struggling through the cold winter, suffering from open wounds due to frostbite. I met a woman who told me about her sexual assault from a London police officer while she was asleep in an alleyway.

[3:26:32] It was horrifying. Her complaints that the police station were ignored because they said she was drunk. She had been sober for five years. We needed to solve the stigma around addiction and we need to support everyone in our community. This also includes the elderly living in housing themselves. My dad has a friend who’s in his late 80s now and he’s struggling to walk and his apartment, the whole building has been completely infested by bed bugs. They’re crawling all over the rooms.

[3:27:06] They crawl around him. He’s not allowed to leave his apartment anymore and my dad has to deliver him groceries whenever he can because City Council refuses to do anything about their building no matter how many reports they’re sent to them. How many lost lives is it going to take? Last winter, over 50 homeless people died from overexposure. That alone should tell you what you need to hear. Thank you. Thank you, Rudy. I’m going to go to the mic, this side, bottom, please.

[3:27:41] Good evening. How are you? My name is Rob McGrath. I’m the Human Resources Director at Arcade Street Mission and I’m very pleased to speak of all of you here today. Very proud to serve this staff. I see it as my job to make sure that they can do their job. And I’m a little disappointed that Deputy Mayor’s not here. I was about to pay him a compliment, but maybe it’s better that he’s not here to hear that. But I have an increased respect for the Deputy Mayor. After one of the round of funding negotiations for Arcade’s services, he had said that he was happy to have been proven wrong in this case and that these services were needed.

[3:28:17] And he recognized that the service delivery was effective, efficient, and responsible. I think the Deputy Mayor was being too critical of himself ‘cause he wasn’t wrong. He was acting on the best available information that he had to him, that he was available to him at that time. And then after those services were delivered, he had more information that was available to him and he made the best decisions he could make at that time. And that’s all any of us. It’s all any person in this room and that’s all any citizen can ask you to do is to act on the best information that you have available to you.

[3:28:56] Now, the Executive Director of Arcade has shown you the most effective, efficient, responsible way to address this problem that is available to you right now. Arc has shown this by way of plan and more importantly, by way of demonstrated example. Now, personally, I don’t know why London is shouting from the rooftops to the country saying, look at what London has found. Successfully supporting 90 people for the same cost that the city has already voted and passed to support 35 people.

[3:29:31] And the province is stepping forward with a similar funding model with that kind of ratio, supporting 90 people for the same people that you voted and supported and passed to support 35 people. We should be proudly sharing what we are doing instead of debating if we’re gonna continue it. It isn’t perfect and the homelessness problem won’t be solved single-handedly by anyone, but it is the most effective, efficient, and responsible way to you right now. Now, our MPP stood up in Queens Park legislature and said that this problem can’t continue to be funded by the hearts of good people, but it does have to be funded.

[3:30:16] And although Arc has a good name and an outstanding reputation in the city, it certainly has become a lightning rod for some of the homelessness issue that London and the rest of the country is currently facing. We seem to be attracting a lot of unwanted and misdirected frustration that has been expressed regarding this issue. Now, I was at the town hall style meeting at Willy’s Cafe where a few supporters were there present who were naysayers and a few of ours supporters and a lot of people who hate the problem that our city and our country is facing.

[3:30:50] And they attach blame to that issue to arcade for their problem, even with our outstanding reputation. And I know that no counselor in this room would engage in a disinformation campaign. No counselor in this room would engage in a disinformation campaign. I ask that when someone speaks up that you speak up too, when someone tells us to our face how grateful they are for the services that they do. And then they go on online and they express how ungrateful they are for the services that we do and they still fear and blame toward us.

[3:31:28] And they’re careful not to make a negative comment directly themselves so they can stick to a disingenuous claim that they are not attached to the fear campaign that they are stoking. And qualifying their position by stating, we just don’t want the problem to be here. We want this to be someone else’s problem. That kind of comment should be recognized for what it is and it’s an irresponsible way to address the real hardships that those who are struggling in the streets have. To say, I care about your problems, but can you go have them somewhere else?

[3:32:04] It should be easy to communicate against that type of messaging that is occurring and it’s not helpful. I ask you to fund the ARC proposal and to do that, to help you sell that to the Londoners. I ask you to please communicate and counter-communicate to disingenuous disinformation campaigns. That’s what the city needs. That’s what your citizens need. Thank you very much. Thank you. Just a reminder, counselors are also online. Like Deputy Marlous who did hear your comments.

[3:32:36] So thanks for, I have to hear about how he was right about being wrong. So looking to see, I’ll go back to the side of the room. There’s a gentleman at the top mic. And then blue coat person, if you would like to speak after that, I’ll go your mic next. So top mic. Good to you. Thank you. Carl Robinson, I’m also a member of the Knuckle Draggers. I’m just gonna continue on the issues that deeply impact the wellbeing of our city homelessness. As we enter another harsh winter, the reality for many Londoners is that we will face freezing temperatures without safe place to sleep.

[3:33:15] This is not just a crisis compassion. It is a moral and civic responsibility. I’m curious why we’re funding London Cares and giving them $174,000 to run a CIR program that comes out and cleans out people’s encampments and leaves them with nothing but the shirts on their back. They’re supposed to be putting their stuff into storage when they do this and leaving a notice on the camp which nobody would ever return to their camp once it’s cleaned out by this horrible organization. I don’t understand why London Cares is leading people to these encampments and CIR just comes in and cleans them completely out. I’ve been trying to get on the phone with Debbie Kramer’s and Mr. Wade Jeffries, the directors and the managers of these organizations.

[3:33:57] As I was currently homeless, we still kind of am, I guess, but I do it by choice because I’m trying to be an advocate for the homeless to go against the council and realizing that places like the Arc are very important in our community. And if you don’t shut, like if you don’t give them funding and you shut them down, what happens to everybody? Where do they go? Do they go to your front door to eat noodles, sleep on your front porches? Like what happens then? Where do they go? What happens when you shut all these organizations down but keep someone like London Cares, that’s leading people, the CIR to clean out encampments?

[3:34:36] I think it just makes no sense to me. Why give the police funding to fund a military tank, the bullies in our city? The ones that do whatever they want and no one says anything about it because everyone’s too afraid to stand up to the police. Where do we go from here? What are you gonna do with the funding that you pull from the Arc? Where’s it gonna go back into the police? Is that your game plan? It makes no sense to me why this is even a debate. Why were you even talking about taking away funding from an amazing organization?

[3:35:09] Like five or nine percent or London Cares does not, they don’t need any funding, they don’t deserve it. As far as I’m concerned, they’re a whole bit of organization. The Arc are the ones that are doing all the legwork. Third, the ones that should be getting all the funding without any discrepancy whatsoever. This shouldn’t be a question at all. I don’t even understand where your heads are at. You’re supposed to be helping run the city and instead you’re driving it into the ground. I’m sorry, but you are.

[3:35:42] You cannot take away the Arc. You have to give them exactly the amount of funding that they possibly need to keep this program running year after year after year. The more you increase the taxes, the more people pay for rent, the more people are gonna be homeless. You keep kicking everyone down the Watson Park and then it’s at max capacity or this and that. Why do they have showers down here? Answer me that question, at least. I know you’re not answering questions, but why and why don’t they have showers? Something that’s been ongoing for four years they’ve been asking council for showers when it was down at Black Fryer Bridge.

[3:36:19] Still no showers. It just blows me away. All this federal and provincial funding that you guys get, where’s it go? Where’s it go? Where’s the 74 million? May you have said that? It was going towards affordable housing and running free press. Did everybody forget about the 74 million? The 24 million that was donated by none of the stoners? Where’s it going? ‘Cause I don’t see it on the streets. I know one does. That’s a lot of money. It’s over a hundred million dollars. For what?

[3:36:52] Who’s putting it in your pockets? Where’s it going? You gotta at least show some kind of headway of where all this funding’s going. If not, the real criminals are sitting right here in this council as far as I’m concerned, along with the London police. Maybe that’s why they’re getting as much money as they are. 30 seconds. I got nothing. Thank you. And then I was going next to this lower mic yet. So if you just wanna go to the mic, it’s, if you wanna state your name, it’s just for the record.

[3:37:25] If not, that’s okay. And then you have up to five minutes. My name is Rob Frias. I just wanted to mention that the arcade and the places like that are very important. But also, I wanted to state that since 2019, I’ve been saved by women in uniform over 150 times until they got me to a hospital in St. Thomas. So I think we need help for both parties and poor people are also important.

[3:37:59] But also 150 times, that’s hard to believe, right? And by each officer more than once, like you need a ride, exactly. I could use their help too. Yeah. Okay, that’s it. Okay, are you sure? You only get to speak once. So is that everything? Okay, just making sure. Okay, thank you for those brief comments. I will go to the lower mic on this side, please. Thank you. Ben Mueller, I’m speaking. I’m a member of the board at the arcade mission. I’m holding my glasses on my phone to create the illusion that I’ll use my prepared notes.

[3:38:38] But it’s unlikely that I will. In part, I want and in part, I waited to speak because I think many of the folks who work and volunteer and have used the services at the arc have a much more granular and genuine and emotional appeal to make to you that I think you needed to hear. So I thought, like, what can I tell you? What kind of story can I tell you? Well, I can tell you a story about being on the board of the arc, which I think is an interesting one and speaks to how essential it is and vital that there is stable long-term funding for the arc.

[3:39:14] It’s a little bit like trying to do a kitchen renovation when your roof has 12 leaks in it, but you’re somehow going to try to do that anyways, but of course you can’t because you have to keep patching the roof. And that’s what it’s like. The amount, the incredible work that you’ve heard about tonight, the vital work, the life-saving work that is done at the arc is done alongside of basically constant contingency planning, constantly figuring out what will happen if this funding stream doesn’t last, if that funding stream isn’t renewed.

[3:39:51] How can we do things on an even lower amount of money? How could things go forward? And if you imagine trying to do that in any sort of sector, trying to keep the sort of expert, well-qualified people that you’ve trained under those conditions is virtually impossible. And those are real challenges for which there are real consequences. So as much as, I don’t think, I mean, if you have any doubt about the good work of the arc, then I guess you haven’t been in the same room as I’ve been in, because hearing these stories should have told you that.

[3:40:26] But the essential need for stability, for long-term funding, I can’t underscore that enough. If you could, if we could take the amount of time that we spend wondering how to model things, have multiple budgets in order to manage, what if things have to be brought down? How do we deal with letting staff go and then thinking that, oh, suddenly there could just be more money thrown and you have to get staff back again? It’s an incredibly inefficient way to do things.

[3:41:00] And again, there are consequences. The need is hopefully unquestioned, and at times when there is perhaps a reaction to default to some sort of nimby approach where we’d rather just put it somewhere else and which will, of course, only further marginalized, the already marginalized, I would suggest to you that quite often we can measure a society by how it deals with its most marginalized, how well is our community dealing with those who are in need? And that’s the point.

[3:41:34] And I think another point that is often forgotten, that something that is core to the arc is that these people belong. They’re not somehow outside of our community. They are our community. And they need our help. And it’s not something that’s going to be resolved in three months, it’s not something that is solely connected to the time of year and whether or not it’s cold outside. But these are much broader issues and they need a much broader and coherent response than the kind of on-again, off-again response that we’ve had.

[3:42:09] So that’s my piece. Thank you very much. Thank you, Toph, Mike, on the side, please. Your name, please, and up to five minutes, welcome. My name is Scott Forbes and I work at the arc. I have been working there since April, but I don’t want to come to you on behalf of the arc. I wanted to talk a little bit about you, who sit in the lower bowl and endure all manner of insult and onslaught just by trying to do your job. One of the things that I try to communicate with those who donate to the arc is that God loves them and he loves what they’re trying to do.

[3:42:54] And I’d like to say the same to both the council members and the city staff. God loves you and he loves what you’re trying to do. What you’re trying to do is a very noble task and that is to bring justice in the affairs of human beings, which are incredibly messy circumstances. A friend of mine used to sit where you sit. His name was Rob Alder and Rob was a council member here and I used to say to him, I didn’t know how he could do his job. It just seemed so incredibly difficult.

[3:43:28] And I said, “At one time, I dared to use the word thankless.” I said, “You have such a thankless job on city council.” And he just turned to me and said, “Oh, no, no, no. No, you don’t understand.” He said, “What I do is I go.” And I think the Bible says, “I go and I take my seat with the elders of the land to bring justice in the city.” And that’s what you try to do. And you’re probably gonna make a lot of mistakes. You’re probably gonna fail and you’re going to, as a result, attract a lot of criticism. And I’m just here to say that on behalf of the ARC and even both those who work there and those who come for services, we believe that God loves you and loves what you are trying to do.

[3:44:17] My claim to fame in life is that I’m a grandfather of six grandchildren. And they have reminded me about what it was like when I was raising my children here in London. I used to take them to school every day. And the last thing I said to them was be kind to the little ones. And I realized over the years that I did this all the time. I said, “It’s all kinds of people.” Sorry, Scott, to interrupt. I paused your time. Just budget comments, please. Okay, then I’ll just cut to the quick. What you are trying to do is very critical and it will attract criticism.

[3:44:53] But if you’ve made your decision to the best of your ability, I just wish you peace. Go in peace when you go home from here. Having done your duty, your fiscal duty to make decisions. And that’s what I wish for you today. Thank you. Thank you. Mike, talk corner of the side, please. Your name for the record, if you would, and up to five minutes and welcome. How’s it going? My name is Victor de Silva. I’m here to talk about environmental urgency. Thank you for the opportunity to address this council today regarding the 2025 annual budget.

[3:45:33] I’m here to speak about an issue of utmost importance, the urgent environmental and safety concerns in the River Road area. The River Road area is not just an industrial zone. It’s a home to residences, workers, businesses, and all the, sorry, and all the vital to our city’s fabric. Yet this area is facing serious threats, demands immediate action to protect public health, the environment, and its well-being of the broader community. The environmental issues in River Road area cannot be ignored.

[3:46:12] Contaminated groundwater is migrating through this area. Sewer systems are leech, sewer systems and leaching beds and a very high groundwater table only exaggerates this crisis. What’s more, direct discharges of contaminants of concern from the neighboring Trafalgar Wood subdivision are further threatening the area. Many residents rely on drilled wells for their water, a reliance that is now a serious health risk.

[3:46:47] The lack of adequate drainage systems, municipal storm sewers, and sanitary infrastructure is compounding these hazards. This situation is unacceptable, and we cannot allow these threats to continue unchecked. Beyond the environmental dangers, the road infrastructure in the River Road area is a pressing safety concern. The unstable, narrow pavement makes it difficult for large trucks to maneuver safely, putting both drivers and residents at risk.

[3:47:21] Several intersections in the area are poorly aligned, increasing the likelihood of accidents. Without immediate intervention, these hazards will only grow. We must act now. The installation of both sanitary and stormwater sewers in the River Road area is not an option. It is essential. This infrastructure will stabilize the roads, prevent further contamination of groundwater, and provide the foundational safety and environmental protection this community deserves.

[3:47:56] The River Road area holds strong strategic links to London’s broader goals, and addressing these issues aligns perfectly with the budget priorities currently under consideration. By making the River Road area a top priority in the 2025 budget, we not only resolve urgent issues, but also demonstrate our city’s commitment to protecting the health and safety of all who live and work here. This is not just an investment in infrastructure.

[3:48:30] It is investment in health, safety, and the future of our community. The risks are clear. The need is urgent. And the time to act is now. Thank you for your attention. This is a critical matter. Let us work together to ensure that the 2025 budget reflects the urgency of this situation, and brings much needed improvements to the River Road area. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone on the mic?

[3:49:02] We’re getting close to last call, so I’m just gonna warn. I go bomb this side, and then I’ll go to this side. Just your name for the record if you would, and then up to five minutes, and welcome. Hi there, my first name is Erin. My last name is Swans, S-C-H-W-A-N-Z. I wasn’t gonna say anything. I didn’t know, I just wanted, I’m still learning and getting my footing in the city. My hometown is London. I was born here, and I have lived away for 25 years. I’m a business person. I was excited to return. I’m here to take care of my mom.

[3:49:35] She’s getting older and be near family that I’ve been away from for a long time. I brought my partner with me, who works in non-profit, so we are compassionate to these issues. I’ve brought my kids with me. It’s been a shock coming back to London. It’s been, send me an aspire actually, because I thought, what have I done? I brought my family back. I was excited just, and I really only focused on being near grandparents, and I didn’t realize that I’d be hauling them into a mess. The city is a mess.

[3:50:09] My initial reaction was, how do I fix this for my family? I don’t know what to do, what did I do? Now that I’ve settled, and I’m glad I’m here, I care, now that I’m learning about the issues, and I’ve settled in and we’re good, we’re happy to be here. But I’ve been involved in city councils in different cities, or at least in the way that I am tonight. And I’m a business owner. I thought I would open a business here. It’s just not possible. And I think what I’m noticing about London is that everyone has good intentions, and everyone that I’ve heard from tonight having, you know, the nonprofits, like it absolutely aligns with my compassionate, the part of me that’s compassionate, of course.

[3:50:54] And it seems to be an all or nothing answer. Fund, defund, yes, arc, no arc. And I think that’s the mistake, because we’re grouping everything under one umbrella. And we might say from the optics that where I come at is that arc is over their head. Everyone that works there in volunteers is absolutely doing the right thing. We have a massive homelessness problem, but like it looks at like how much capacity does arc have? How much are they capable of? They might be, you know, completely the best compassionate, empathetic human beings, but I don’t know if they’re business people as far as like solving poverty.

[3:51:30] You know, is a plan, it’s a business plan. And I think that just looking at it very differently, it’s a long night. It’s a lot of stories which are all relevant and all valid, but I think it still doesn’t add to like what’s the plan and have they, and maybe not defunding art ‘cause I don’t think that’s the answer. But realizing they might have reached capacity and it’s a municipal problem now. And we look at, you know, addiction. And I thought to be honest, when the police funding went up last year, I was new here, I thought, please help fix this. But I’ve watched it not get any better and one of my sons goes to Beale and he walks by.

[3:52:07] I’ve seen things that we have never seen in our lives, you know, people with their pants down and injecting themselves next to the school where kids are supposed to go get pizza. And I stopped personally, I feel like I’ve vigilated to you. I’ve been stopping like sweat patrol, walking police and three of them on bikes rode by me and I stopped them. And I said, you know, can you please do something about that because there’s kids and they’re getting their lunch and it doesn’t mean I’m not a compassionate person to say this is not okay either. And they said, no, we can’t do anything. They said, London’s like a sanctuary city. We’re not allowed to do that to, you know, stop, fill out, you know, use a drug, hard drug use right in front of the kids.

[3:52:45] And so they said, we can’t do anything. We’re told not to do anything. They said, if you want to see bad, just go behind that building, you know. And so I went into the police station, they said, go in. And then I went into the police station and they said, write an email, write an email. There’s nothing we can do. It is what it is, it’s the worst. And it’s like, I have never, you know, in the city that I came from, you know, they would hand out cards to the businesses and said, if you need us, just call us. So non-emergency, you know. And it doesn’t mean we don’t want to help people. It means you want to like, you know, they had opened like, it was called the Forum, like a big open space where people were always dry, always housed, you know, and you had to go there.

[3:53:24] You had to go there. You can’t lay in front of businesses. You can’t inject yourself with hard drugs in front of schools. You just can’t. It doesn’t mean we don’t care. It doesn’t mean we don’t want better for you. It just means that this plan, the way it is existing now is not working. And if there is funding to ARC, bless them. It needs to decrease and that money doesn’t need to be, you know. 30 seconds. It needs to go somewhere else where we’re dealing with like a solution focus and we need to have a hard plan. And all those people who volunteer are always gonna do wonderful things.

[3:53:57] And they will go where this new plan is. And I just want to hear what the new plan is because it’s not working the way it is now. And it’s hard to watch. Thank you for joining us tonight. Welcome back. Bottom mic on this side. If you want to state your name for the record, if not, that’s okay. And then up to five minutes, welcome. Hi, my name’s Jessica Wernam. That’s W-E-R-N-H-A-M. And I work with ARC Aid Street Mission. So first off to build off the previous ladies’ comments.

[3:54:34] To be perfectly honest, I wish there wasn’t a need in our community for the services that we offer. You know, seeing the level of need and the changing face and homelessness in London has been truly eye-opening. I think one of the things that’s caught me the most is seeing how it impacts the seniors in our community and how, you know, we’re letting them fall through the cracks in terms of not having meaningful affordable housing solutions that are readily accessible for them. You know, on a day-to-day basis at work, seeing what it looks like to not have enough capacity for beds to meet the needs in the community on a given day and to have to turn people away and not have a safe space to offer people at the end of the night.

[3:55:25] So I realize that funding has been approved, but I think the really important issue here is that we make this stable and continuous funding that we have on an ongoing basis that’s budgeted for until we can come up with more meaningful systemic and structural solutions to address the problems that we’re facing in London. And that’s really all I have to say at this point ‘cause everyone else has said it much better. Thank you. Thank you, looking for further speakers at the mic. Okay, welcome if you just want to state your name and you’ve up to five minutes.

[3:56:02] And bottom this corner just for our details where I’m going. My name is Rosemary Van Galdren. You guys are aware of who I am. Last name, capital V-A-N, capital G, E-L-D, E-R-E-N. And I just want to thank you all for staying late to listen to our various viewpoints and taking a little bit of abuse. I find all of you very accommodating and many of you have interacted with me through email and phone calls and I appreciate it. I’m here in support of continued funding for the ARC. The work that the ARC does cannot be measured in dollars and cents and I know taxpayers and businesses are struggling but the work that they do is priceless.

[3:56:43] They’ve saved my daughter’s life many times. And tonight I’m going to put a name on my daughter. My daughter’s name is Chloe. She’s 23 years old. She’s been on the street in London for two and a half years. She went to Beale. She graduated in 2020 and through mental health issues. She’s now on the street using fentanyl. When she overdosed, they resuscitated at her. When she was having seizures, they cared for her until the ambulance came. When she had exposure from being outside in the cold for days on end, they brought her in, warmed her and gave her warm clothing and hot food.

[3:57:20] She spent a week living in a styrofoam box behind Le Bats by the river and came up to the ARC on that first Baptist. That was that incident. They assisted me in caring for her when her hands had abscesses and she had lost most of her fingernails in the winter. They helped me to soak them and clean them in the bathroom. Olivia Clark was a mentor to her when she was first on the street. She helped her to navigate the street and we were really saddened when Olivia passed away. There’s no price that you can put on that kind of care.

[3:57:57] The community members accessing those 30 beds are struggling members. Some of them are disabled, elderly and use walkers and wheelchairs. How can we ask those members to sleep outside in winter conditions? It’s been mentioned that the palace is in its 50th year and my daughter attended the palace when she was well with her friends. I bring to mind that the ARC has also occupied the space for 40 years. It would break my heart to move it. However, if that is a solution, I ask that the city step up and assist in finding a suitable spot that is accessible for those who are vulnerable and have mobility issues.

[3:58:38] I sat in on the SPPC meeting today and I was appalled by comments made by some council members in saying, what is a sandwich and a bottle of water to someone living in an encampment? We can go to our kitchen for a snack. If you’ve ever slept in a tent in the winter and tried to stay warm, and I have, not as a homeless person, tried to sleep hungry in the winter and calorie deficit. I ask that the city reconsider funding encampment depose and I thank you for listening to all of our various viewpoints and I ask you to reconsider funding for the ARC for 2025.

[3:59:17] Thank you. Thank you Rosemary. Looking to see if there’s any speakers who haven’t spoken yet, who would like to have a comment. Yeah, sorry Rudy, you can only speak once. So I can’t go back to you, but if someone who’s with you wants to share what your comments would be or their own comments, I can certainly take them. I just like to say one thing and then I— Sorry Rudy, I can’t. It’s only one speaker ‘cause other people are gonna want it. No, sorry, I’m gonna have to ask, that might need to be cut.

[3:59:51] Okay, so thanks, I’m sorry, I can’t. I’m gonna have to just, any comments that you haven’t said or didn’t feel comfortable sharing the space can also be emailed to the whole committee at budget committee@london.ca if you had a PowerPoint you wanted to send with your notes, that’s welcome as well. I don’t know, there’s a person sitting next to you if you’re good, ‘cause it’s kinda like last call. So if you want to state your name, that’s welcome. If not, that’s okay.

[4:00:23] And then you have up to five minutes and welcome. Hello, my name’s Emmanuel Akanbi, that’s AKA and BI. I do want to echo Rudy’s point that it’s kind of hard to see people talking about really heartfelt stories and a lot of people not like giving them time to air, like looking in their eyes as they’re talking ‘cause what was just shared was really, really personal and really, really heartfelt and I can understand how difficult it is to come here and share that and feel like it is going to continue to be ignored. So I think it’s a fair point he was trying to make even if this time was up. I was at the budget meeting in February and with a bunch of people who stayed very late until like, I think it ended at like 10 to share concerns about the budget and what was being cut from it and what was like where the money was going.

[4:01:11] And with those people, I saw a majority of the concerns that we had be generally dismissed with the way it passed following and I think that it’s very difficult to try and make time to come to this kind of meeting. It’s at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, which is a work day and it’s hard to make time to come here. I was very late to this ‘cause I had a lot of other things to do, I would appreciate there were more opportunities to come and engage with the council on issues like this. I feel like there’s so much that the community wants to do to support and I feel like a lot of the community is being left behind in these processes because there aren’t enough times to sit and talk or like, or engage with the council on matters like this that everyone is affected by and everyone does care deeply about, I understand that the council is often a difficult position with this but it is really, really hard to sit through a long meeting, share something really personal to you and your experience with anything in the city.

[4:02:13] Have that be large, ignore it, have councilors not looking you in the eye as you’re talking or have councilors like on their phones or as Rudy was saying or have, or I think like the next meeting I watched after that budget meeting in February, I think councilor Stevenson said, “Oh, everyone who came there just came to oppose.” And it’s just very like loud minority as opposed to the silent majority that didn’t come. And comments like that are very discouraging. People who want to come here and share their thoughts and be part of the process when it comes to supporting council and things to support citizens, to support the homeless people here who are struggling.

[4:02:52] And I think that this council could be doing a lot better right now to support the public, to come out to these kind of things. I didn’t see much advertising for this. I’ve been following city council and I’ve been watching out for these kind of things and I didn’t see this advertised very much at all in my community. I told many people about it and they were like, “Oh, I didn’t know that was happening.” People who were at the one previously, because this one didn’t get that much attention. And I’m even surprised to hear about the cut-off that’s happening now ‘cause last time it went for a very, very long time, which I’m sure is exhausting for all of you.

[4:03:30] You’ve been here a long time already. But I think you’re going to keep finding less and less people willing to come out if they see that their concerns don’t actually have an impact on the councilors. It’s hard to push people emotionally with what people have to say, and I can get that like, a dozen people coming here and sharing, they don’t like what you’re doing, might not mean all that much to you when you have a lot of other things to consider, but it really does mean a lot to me personally, to come to this meeting, to write something up, see it on the agenda and know that somebody read it, somebody felt some way about it and is willing to voice a concern that was brought by the public at the next meeting, or is willing to motion based off concerns that were held last time.

[4:04:19] And there’s been a lot of seven to eight votes, so a lot of like 10 to five votes that just show that there’s a majority of people on council that aren’t willing to be bunched on things. And I don’t think that’s how we want a democratized city council to work or any kind of politics to work. I do believe in this process to a degree, and I want to keep believing in it, but I need the way that this happens to change if I want to keep believing in that kind of process. Thank you.

[4:04:53] Thank you, Emmanuel. Looking to see if there’s other speakers who have not spoken yet, there are none in committee meeting rooms, there are none online, there are none on the phones. Yeah, so there’s gonna be one more here, so I’m just gonna ask if there’s anyone else, just to make your way to the mic, so I kind of stopped doing last call. So if you wanna state your name, and then welcome, and you have up to five minutes, please proceed. Thank you, Councillor. I just want to preface by saying a little short here. I get a little stage fright or whatever, so I’m a little nervous, but I just wanted to say thanks to all the Councillors that are still here, even after the SPPC.

[4:05:32] It’s really important to a lot of people that, as Emmanuel said, that can be heard about the plethora of things that they’re affected by. Funny enough, Emmanuel and I actually became friends at the last PPM due to concerns and a similarity in terms of opinion, in terms of how the last PPM went. And one of the biggest concerns I have for this 2025 budget at the moment is number P2. I think a lot of folks currently who have voiced their concerns, whether it be for Arc or Acorn, have time and time again, have put their vulnerabilities online and told stories that genuinely affect them at a very, very deep and personal level.

[4:06:17] So I just hope that after today, that there is some deep consideration for the five to eight Councillors that may already have chosen how they’re gonna go about making decisions. And I just hope that the people that took the time to be here and are not doing the unpaid labor of being at home and maybe cooking dinner for their kids, that their voices were heard, and that even if motions or amendments are not reflective of that, that Councillors still take the opportunity to speak to these grassroots organizations and develop rapport and have an opportunity to actually grow and cultivate London to be an incredible city.

[4:06:57] I find it really, really disheartening to see time and time again. Young folks like myself being disheartened to stay in London as I believe Vienna said online, who called in. A lot of folks do end up leaving. And there is a massive brain drain because there isn’t a belief in this city for a lot of young folks. And it is unfortunately due to things like this in terms of 20%, more than a fifth of our 2025 budget just being for the LPS. So I’m tired and I’m sure you guys are tired as well. So I’ll leave it at that.

[4:07:29] Thank you so much. Thank you. You didn’t state your name. If you want to, you can. If not, you’ll just be unknown in the record. My name is Harris Anser. Thank you, Harris, and welcome and thank you for coming. And the next budget update and we’ll also be in November for the PPM. If you want to bookmark it, we’ll see you back and glad that you made friends along the way. Last call one more time. Anyone at the mic seeing none. I will need a motion from counselors to close the public participation meeting.

[4:08:05] Closed, moved by Councillor Hopkins. Seconded by Councillor Cuddy. This is a vote in the e-scribe. Yes. Councillor votes yes. Layman votes yes. Stevenson votes yes. Louis votes yes. Councillor Hayley. Motion votes yes.

[4:08:38] Motion to vote, motion carries 15 to zero. Thank you, and for everyone who joined us tonight and throughout the evening, those who spoke and didn’t, we did have 45 speakers tonight. So okay, so I’ll need a motion to, I just need a motion first to have received the people and all the correspondence within the package.

[4:09:11] Moved by Councillor Cuddy, seconded by Councillor Frank. That motion is opening. Your aye votes yes. All your votes yes. Trustor votes yes. Councillor Lewis. Louis votes yes. Those in the vote, motion carries 15 to zero.

[4:09:44] Okay, for members of Council, the public, our next steps from here is Councillors who wanna hit the added agenda for the budget deliberations that will commence on Thursday morning. Your deadline is tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. Procedurally, you can still do things on the floor, but if we haven’t in advance, it just helps the public to know what we’re gonna be discussing in a mover and seconder. Councillor Troso, is this something for items for direction or a point of order? Councillor, I would like to speak.

[4:10:18] We heard a number of— Sorry, speak on what? There’s nothing on the floor at the moment. Proceed, really. I’d like to make a motion that we alter the deadline for items. And the reason for that is we’ve heard what time is it now? It’s eight, it’s gonna be 8.30. During this public participation meeting tonight, a couple of different ideas about things that could be put on the floor emerged. And I’d like to have a little bit more time than nine o’clock tomorrow morning to scroll together some things. I heard two or three things that have led me to think I would like to put an additional item or two on the agenda.

[4:10:57] And I don’t want them frustrated on procedural grounds. Okay, thank you, can you point one more time? I blinked. Okay, as per item 27.11, item materials, deadlines as per the council procedure. Viola, the deadline for receipt of for item materials by the clerk for addition to a standing committee agenda shall be nine a.m. One business day prior to the standing committee. So that would be contrary. I would say that you’re still welcome to contemplate tomorrow and then just have it in for that Thursday.

[4:11:31] At the clerks, myself and finance ideally, no something is coming. We can make sure it’s loaded and inscribed and still part of our conversations throughout that day, Councillor. Thank you, that’s helpful. I also do want to thank everybody for coming. We are listening to you. Thank you very much. Items for direction, I have none. Deferred matters and additional business. Is that a deferred matter or motion to adjourn? I’ll go to Councillor Hawkins. Yeah, just for clarification. So I just heard from the chair that we can have amendments brought forward by Thursday as well.

[4:12:07] Yes, thank you. Yeah, ideally you have a seconder and some wording done. We don’t wordsmith on the floor, but it’s still procedurally in order during that meeting on the Thursday. Without seeking leave, it is procedurally in order. Thank you. I’m not aware of any additional deferred matters, additional business. There would be a hand vote for a German. I would need a mover and Councillor Cudi, a seconder and Councillor Layman. I’m sure. Yes, I just wanted to confirm again. So to get it on an agenda so the public can see any type of amendment.

[4:12:41] Nine am tomorrow. Tomorrow, but we can still bring it on Thursday and that will still make an agenda or— It won’t make an agenda, but you’ll still be part of the discussion. Okay. Yep, okay, hand vote, that was a hand vote to adjourn. Motion carries. Thank you, we’re adjourned and I will see you Thursday morning at first thing.