Transcript: Approves Family Homelessness Strategy - Comité des services communautaires — 2026/04/28 | Summary 13

Approves Family Homelessness Strategy - Comité des services communautaires — 2026/04/28

Audio test 1, two, 3. Audio test 1, two, 3. Good ever morning everyone. We're going to get started in about one moment. All right, and welcome everyone to the community services committee for Tuesday, April 28th, 2026. Uh, we do have regrets from councelor Low and I will ask the committee coordinator to call the role. Councelor Brochington here. Councelor Brown here. Councelor Carr. Councelor Hill present. Councelor Kavanaaugh present. Councelor King here. Uh Con uh councelor Low Conplant. Councelor Troster here. Vice Chair Bradley here. Chair Dudas. You have quorum. there. Uh we have confirmation of minutes for February 24th 20 uh 2026. Is that item carried? We also have the joint committee minutes from March 24th, 2026. Is that item carried? We have two responses to inquiries. U I'm asking I'm looking around to see if anyone wishes to lift those onto the agenda. Seeing that we're good to go. Is are those items received? Okay. We uh we have item 5.1 pathways to housing Ottawa's family homelessness strategy for which we have a presentation. I will invite staff to come up and get set up. As they're getting set up, however, I'm going to go through the rest of the agenda because we have a number of other items. So, we're going to hold that item. Staff are getting set up with that presentation. Oops. I could just pages here. 5.2 we're also going to hold. So we'll come back to that one. That's the local priority rules under the Housing Services Act. We have item 6.1 status update community services committee inquiries and motions for the period ending April 10th, 2026. There's been no motions, no presentations. Is this item received? Received. Do you have an extra uh we have no in camera items and as information previously distributed we have several items 8.1 2 3 and four. I'm looking around the table just to see if anyone had any wish to hold any of those items or lift. Chair, can we hold 8.1? I just have a couple of questions. Thank you. 8.1 is held. Are there any other of those items that anybody wishes to hold? No. Okay. So, hopefully that uh releases some of the staff who are here if they were here for just those items. All right. And we're going to go back to item 5.1 which is pathways to housing Ottawa's family homelessness strategy of which we have a presentation. So welcome Clara, welcome Kale. Take it away. Thank you chair. Uh good morning bonjour. Uh members of the committee. Uh thanks for the opportunity to present the pathways to housing report and the family homelessness strategy which represents an important shift in our system. And before I begin, I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge Kale who's sitting beside me and his leadership uh to bring this forward and also acknowledge Nicole Sullivan for leading a very robust and meaningful engagement process and for her central role in developing the strategy and the report before you today. The family homelessness strategy reflects a a very deliberate and highly collaborative approach to bring uh to modernize the system and bring more clarity and more accountability into the system. And for the for the sole reason and really the key goal here is to assist families to more rapidly exit homelessness into permanent housing. So it represents a very housing driven strategy. From the outset, staff were intentional about engaging uh partners across the housing and homelessness system to ensure what's before you today is evidence informed, grounded in operational realities and informed by both lived and living experiences and professional experience and responsive to the complexity of the family home of family homelessness in Ottawa. And that included engagement with transi trans transitional housing providers, gender-based violence organizations, newcomer serving uh organizations, indigenous service providers, Ottawa public health, affordable housing partners, um and of course the housing and homelessness leadership table. I would also like to acknowledge uh the people first together for change working group made up of our shelter case workers and supervisors from the city's family transitional and off-site services unit. These frontline insights were instrumental in shaping both the recommendations and the overall strategy before you. So, thank you very much staff. The strategy is also innovative in creating more access to affordable housing and prioritizing homelessness homeless families for this housing where it's city funded of course and it aligns to the service realities and responses we're seeing across Ontario and uh Kale and the team are doing um an a very good job in engaging other municipalities across the province in a collective in the collective advocacy effort to ensure that we have the resources We need to move forward on this and other strategies. And it explicitly recognizes exemptions for families fleeing violence. And so with that, I'll hand it over to Kale to provide details about our our strategy. Thank you, Clara. We can go to the next slide. So, as Clara had mentioned, this strategy is representing a significant shift in the way we deliver family shelter services in the city of Ottawa. And this follows very closely some of the exceptional work that the team has done over the last five years to transition our single support system through the integrated transition to housing strategy. The family transitional system is comprised of currently our overflow hotels and motel systems um as well as one city operated facility at one Corkstown Road soon to be a second with 377 Oconor purchase. Um and then we also have one provider in the community, Catholic Center for Immigrants who provides services and supports. As Clare had mentioned, it is important to note um that the domestic violence sector violence against women shelter is proincially funded um is exempt from many of these recommendations um and it is not the purview of the city of Ottawa. Next slide, please. So really what we're looking to transition to as a city is a more holistic system for families um with a focus on transitions into long-term housing. As you can see from the demands and trends on the slide um we have seen a significant increase in the number of families accessing the family homelessness system resulting in a very large um unbudgeted um hotel spend on overflow spaces of 29.3 million. These spaces also include significant proportions of children in our family shelter system. Um a number where our family size has continued to go up over the last two years. Next slide please. The reason for this increase um in the number of people in our family shelter system is both important to recognize that um we have seen an increase in the number of families inflowing into the system. But the primary driver for this increase in the number of people accessing the system each night is due to this 41% decrease in outflow from the system. So really what this strategy is looking to address is update and modernize our family shelter system um to respond to these uh challenges with the outflow um as well as addressing opportunities to limit inflow. Next slide please. Uh the report is really focused around what is in the orange box here. However, we have also included a comprehensive document as an attachment which outlines the rest of the family homelessness system. It's important to note that we do make significant investments on homelessness prevention as a city supporting things like arars hydroar um bridge housing programs that support families for uh temporary period as they transition um between jobs uh or types of long-term housing units. Um, and then we also really continue to focus on those long-term housing investments, um, of which we achieved close to a thousand affordable housing units, uh, that are under development. Um, we've transitioned 42 youthled families through the housing works program run by Operation Come Home. And we've also seen 185 families housed through community benefits and housing benefits so far. We continue, as Clare mentioned, to do system coordination, working closely with our housing um sector partners through the housing and homelessness leadership table, as well as people who work closely with us in the family sector, periphilally with partners such as the health sector. The report in front of you today is about creating a system that supports ongoing demand within the family shelter system, more targeted towards historical averages. With the purchase of 377 Oconor, we were able to create um a total of 300 units or close to 300 units across our two family sites that the city of Ottawa operates in addition to what the Catholic Center for Immigrants operates. So really our system uh that we're creating today is to get back to those historic levels so that we're not relying so heavily on overflow hotels and we need a system that has the inflow and outflow focus um to go back to those uh permanent shelter capacity and averages. Next slide please. So there's two recommendations within the family homelessness strategy. The first is around um some of the inflow components and what we can do um to ensure that people are not coming into the system from other municipalities um from other areas of the city. What we want to do is ensure that really family shelter is only used as a last resort uh for families in the city. Um, as Claire mentioned, the housing focus mandate really we're transitioning and making clear to any family entering the system that one uh the system is to be used as a last resort. And while you're in that system, we are 100% housing focused, transitioning into long-term housing. To support some of those aims, we have developed a system mandate um that requires families to meet certain thresholds to be able to uh be enter into the family shelter system. So that includes uh diversion criteria. So one of the things that we see in Ottawa is a ongoing trend where there's inflow from places like Montreal who does have a family shelter system available uh as well as various housing supports in those cities. So what the team is going to be doing is working intensively across our housing partners, other municipalities within Ontario um and partners in Quebec that we speak to regularly within the sector um to notify that we will be as a city sending people um back to their place of origin as long as they have the supports in place in those cities. So that will really support uh limiting inflow into the city. And really the reasoning behind this is that we do not have the capacity or funding as you kind of saw from our ongoing pressure on overflow sites to be able to accommodate in this long term. Um the other levels of government do support these other municipalities to run programs locally there. The other component that we will be adding to support um limiting inflow is that you need to meet certain income and asset limits to be able to enter the family shelter system. On the income side of things, we have tied our limiting of the level of income you can have to the amount that you can have to be eligible for Ontario Works programming. So again, aligning with provincial objectives in this area. And then on the um asset limit side of things, we have tied this in with requirements under the rent gear to income program, ensuring that both our um family shelter system and Ontario work system proincially are tied in with requirements for our local program requirements. So what this will help us do is support limiting the inflow and focusing resources on those most need uh destabilizing locally in our community or arriving directly as newcomers. The really responses about rolling out with our team um a clear housing focused requirement when people enter shelter. This will be done through an occupancy agreement and ongoing individualized case management programs with each of the households. We are really wanting to shift away from those uh ongoing use or heavy use of hotels and motel which are acting as an overflow function and move towards more uh permanent sustainable um and humane solutions like our 377 OKConor purchase and the uh Corkstown transitional housing program. Next slide please. The next recommendation is really around supporting increased outflow from the family shelter system. As you may be aware, there are two primary mechanisms that households in our family system use to exit homelessness. One is through um rent geared to income housing with the other being um housing benefits including portable housing benefits like the Canada Ontario housing benefit. What this allows us to do um this priority is about switching and having a requirement to target 20% of people experiencing homelessness into the affordable housing that the city has built. As you may be aware, with new programs, capital programs coming from both the federal and provincial governments, there is more of a focus on affordable housing versus deeply affordable housing like rentar to income. So really what we're doing with this update is creating a homelessness priority for affordable housing um which does not currently exist. This is also innovative among other municipalities across Ontario who continue to grapple with providing deeply affordable housing and we have worked very closely with our housing partners um to deliver this um thing. It does not become in effect until um after this report is passed um so over the next two years when the first units that will be affected by this um will come to be built. We are going to be working with housing providers to do a pilot program to ensure that any programmatic issues are worked out before full implementation. Again, this is an amazing opportunity for the city um to leverage our full assets and capital commitments to support exits from our homelessness system. And it also reinforces the point that the system of family homelessness is about getting into long-term permanent sustainable housing with the amenities and community supports that you need. for next steps. Uh the implementation of the strategy does become in effect as soon as this is passed by council. Um and we will be working closely with that family homelessness working group and the housing and homelessness leadership table on implementation um over the coming months. And then we look forward in the next year or two to pilot some of this 20% mandate um with our affordable housing providers. That concludes the presentation. Thank you. Thank you very much. Um, before we go to questions to staff, we do have a speaker, Elizabeth Decasango from I Produce Art. Is Elizabeth online potentially? Oh, no. Hi. Wonderful. I was too quick. Welcome. Uh, your mic is already on. you have five minutes to to speak to the committee. Good morning. Um, thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Elizabeth and I am uh running a community-based initiative called I Produce Art. Um, serving over 200 individuals in the community experiencing homelessness. For the past four years, we've been supporting um as mentioned uh around 200 individuals on a consistent basis through outreach, creative programs, and simply building real relationships with people. Um through this work, we've engaged closely with people living in shelters and on the streets, and we hear directly from them about their experiences. Um, one thing that comes up a lot, even though services exist, many people still feel overlooked, unsupported, or disconnected from the systems that are supposed to uh help them. Um, we've seen firsthand how much people value spaces where they feel seen, respected, and safe, and just being themselves. Um, programs that focus on human connection, creativity, and consistency really do make a difference, not just in the moment, but in helping people rebuild confidence, trust, and a sense of belonging. At the same time, many people share concerns about their experiences and shelters and the difficulties they face when trying to move forward into stable housing. There is often a gap between available services and lived realities of those trying to access them. As we as you continue developing strategies around family homelessness, I do encourage a stronger focus on listening directly to people with lived experiences, supporting community-led initiatives that are already doing the work on the ground, and creating an creating environments that go beyond basic needs and foster dignity, stability, and long-term support. Our organization remains committed to supporting with community. So to sorry to supporting this community and working alongside partners to create meaningful and lasting impact. Thank you. Thank you very much. Um I'm looking around to see if there's any questions for you. You have a question from councelor Kavanagh. Yeah, thank you very much for coming out today. Um we're talking about um family shelters. Is it focused on family shelters, your program, or is it uh broader than that? Uh yes. So, we do partner with several shelters here in the city of Ottawa. Um for the most part, uh we offer art classes. So, uh I do teach art classes and we found um a lot of improvements and behaviors and uh what we do is we enable for the clients to uh sort of freestyle what they want to do in those classes and then after a class we all share uh what is it that we painted or drew and um that gets them to open up in ways they haven't before and share and um is a step in building last longing relationships with them as well. Okay. So, it's for adults and children. Yes. Okay. Um, how is it funded? Everything we're doing now is out of pockets. Um, we receive don donations here and there, but uh, nonetheless, it is okay. All right. Thank you. Really appreciate it. Thank you. Wonderful. I'm seeing no further questions for you. Thank you very much for coming today. So now we'll open up the floor to questions to staff. Councelor Troster, thank you so much. Um, so a 41% decrease in outflow in 2425 alone. What do you think we can attribute that to? Thank you, chair. I think primarily the driver is that um affordable housing outside of affordable housing that is some way subsidized directly or indirectly from different levels of government becomes increasingly um difficult to find in the market. So we know uh currently in 2025 our affordable housing rate um within the city was about 1.2% compared with 3.5% in uh for I'll say less affordable housing within the city. So that ongoing very very low vacancy rate creates huge challenges for family to make a significant jump from deeply affordable housing to RGI to um market rate housing. So even within social housing providers, um if you for example get a job, have a certain income level to get to market rate housing and you're no longer on RGI, even to make the jump from that level of affordability that's around 100% average market rent to what's available in the private market um is extremely challenging. So it's really about that interimm step between some type of subsidy and no subsidy at all. Okay. Thank you. And you didn't specifically articulate this in your presentation, but I know in the briefing you talked about how now families will they have to accept the first offer and that offer might be a subsidy with private market housing. Um, so it's sort of like one and done. You have to take the offer because we don't want families to wait for years in a motel room as their kids go through school in the hope of getting RGI housing, which is not being built anymore. But my question is, if you accept that subsidy, how long does it last for? what's what's the risk to those families? Thank you, chair. So, the primarily we use the Canada Ontario housing benefit which is tied to the national housing strategy. Um the national housing technically ends in 2028, but again there's thousands of people on this. So, um us working closely with uh provincial and federal counterparts. Um there will be a continuation of the program. We don't know exactly what that looks like, but again, without that depth of affordability or subsidy, most everyone would not be able to afford their housing. Um, so it is essentially guaranteed because we know we need to continue to do this as a part of the program as well. The only thing that would make you ineligible, which would be the same as RGI, is if your income level reaches a point beyond um where you're eligible for that subsidy. So essentially all of our programs are ongoing unless you no longer meet those core eligibility requirements which would have been the same when you signed up for the program. Okay. Thank you. I'm glad you mentioned the Canada Ontario Housing Benefit because the one that jumped up at me was that our 2526 allocation was fully allocated by February 2026 and we've been using $7.1 million from municipal spending to fill the gap and we expect this to be committed by Q3 2026. So what do we do after that? like what about those families that are stuck in shelter or um need assistance not to lose their housing? Do we have a plan if that funding is not renewed or if it's totally exhausted? Thank you through you, Chair. Um yes, so we do know that we will have one more iteration of the Canada Ontario housing benefits which will come this year. Um we have been in conversations with the province that we expect it coming much earlier this year, closer to the spring timeline, so around that Q3. So, we're hopeful that we will receive that. Um, we're also looking in terms of mitigation measures. Um, there's been some quite unique things happening around the province in terms of municipalities creating time limited benefits, that type of thing. So, the team's also exploring an eventuality where we no longer have some of those core benefits we currently work with, how we could um repurpose some of our existing funding to create some of those, we'll say, transitional benefits that aren't ongoing. So, um, lots of work's happening around the province. We continue to talk at inter municipal tables like um SA and AMO about options for this but really I will reiterate that we do continue to plan on our side but we are in the same boat as every other municipality across Ontario many of which similar to Ottawa has had to create our own local benefits and is looking what the sustainable solutions moving forward. ask Claire to add maybe if I just wanted to add that the important thing about the strategy before you is it gives us the policy framework to then pivot within the funding. So when we get the Cobb uh if we get other housing benefits we now have the policy framework to be able to consistence consistently and actively support families to exit with portable housing benefits which is our preference. That portable housing benefit enables the family to carry that benefit with them, which is um important if they have to then find other housing and move to other to another housing situation, they can carry that portable benefit with them. So, it's a it it it encourages autonomy and empowerment and we that's where that's where we're trying to negotiate with the province to renew the COB. I mean, I I agree. It creates some autonomy and portability, but you're also at the whims of a private landlord and that housing is not permanently affordable, right? So, that there's certainly a risk inherent. I get that. Um, I I know others are on the list, so I don't want to exhaust things. I just I'm hearing some panic from some nonprofit housing providers about expiring operating agreements with the province. They're very worried about this. Is this something you're hearing about um in terms of uh some of the family homelessness options out there? Is this something the city is actively advocating on? Thank you, chair. Um, it's a good question. So, operating agreements, as you're likely aware, expire at different times. We have operating agreements that have expired a few years ago. There's operating agreements that expire um right up until about 2030. Um, so we have an ongoing issue. There is um several working groups that were working with affordable housing providers. Um, I would just say as well for any if counselors are receiving specific inquiries, we have program administrators who are very much interested in working with any of those providers to absolve some of those concerns. I will say on city staff's side, this has been something that was defined to us um through the download from the federal government and provincial government to be under municipal control for rented income housing. So, this is something we have been planning for as a team for many, many, many years. Um there are a lot of requirements that go into this programming um around provincial funding and what we have available to us under the housing services act as leverage and options and that's why we've struck those working groups to continue conversations. But again, this should not result in any of our provider having a net loss of income. Um, essentially what's happening with end of operating agreements ending is as we we're pulling back our operating funding as the leases uh, sorry, leases the mortgages are paid off for those buildings. So, it's essentially a one for one. We back out operating funding as they have a lower mortgage cost. Thank you very much. Thank you, councelor uh, councelor Kavanagh. Thank you, chair, and thank you Kale and Clara for the work you've been doing and the whole team. And um I appreciate their the responsiveness on any concerns we have on Corkstown. Um it's um you know there's a lot of families there. It's a small space really for that number. Um but um it's great that it's right beside a school and uh and really appreciate when the community is very supportive. So u but I thank the team because they've been very responsive. um when you were talking about where the families are coming from and you were talking about Montreal etc. Are they originally um refugees or newcomers and then they landed one place and then told to move to another? Is that how it's working? Thank you chair. Um those trends do change on a year-to-year basis. Certainly within the last year when we saw that every major city saw a significant inflow of newcomers. So recently I would say yes we are seeing a significant portion being secondary migrants from Montreal to Ottawa. Um but even prior to that 5 10 years ago we still saw that same inflow um with a different population. I think it really uh follows any of the trends across the shelter systems that we're seeing. But yeah within the last year that would be correct. But if they're being let in by to the country as as refugees for example um wouldn't they be supported by the federal government? Shouldn't we be getting funds to to house them? Uh, chair, it really depends on how they come into the country um and then how long they've been in the country in terms of when the support ends. Um, if they're a sponsored refugee, etc. Uh, the important thing to note is that 76% of the families in our system are newcomers to Canada and the LA and that's really defined within the last 10 years. Sorry, percentage. It's really 76%. Um, and so the we continue to serve holistically and our case management. The one of the important parts of the strategy before you is a more robust case management program to really integrate work with settlement service providers and other community partners with our staff to ensure the families have what they need to be able to exit. Um, well, in terms of families coming from outside of our city, diversion means that we would send families back if they have somewhere to go. I appreciate that. And um, according to report, they're staying 11 months, almost a year at at the shelter. So, this is this is increased quite a bit, which is uh tough on on families. Um my concern is the private sector developments are building small units. So we're not going to see families going into these units. Um the nonprofit sector is building the larger units because they they are uh aware the of the need and um so it just proves you know the need for nonprofit. We were just at an announcement yesterday in councelor Bradley's ward um where um we were you know another 90 units to be built right beside the uh Boys and Girls Club. Great great location. Can't do it fast enough. Um obviously we're you know the rent gear to income is not growing and uh we're we're at a place where we need to build um affordable housing um and uh we'll have to cross subsidize it with with market rates. that um appreciate the work and um um you're doing the best to make sure that these families um move on to a good life uh especially you know for the kids the whole family. So appreciate uh all that's being done. Thank you. Thank you very much Councelor Kavanaaugh Councelor Johnson. Uh thank you chair and certainly u a big thank you to staff uh for putting together this report. This is a crisis. Um you can see by the data that you've provided that we without addressing this we're not only you know making an incredible amount of investment. like there's a ton of money kind of going to sustain what is a a an a a very um I'm sorry I'm a bit emotional about this because I I'm I'm I'm reacting to how I've experienced it in in my ward but you know we're spending an awful lot of money on a really bad solution to the problem. You know what I mean? So it's it's it's not the wrong thing to have done but it cannot continue. So I very much appreciate us naming it in this report and trying to describe the strategies that we need to support families to go out. Certainly in my ward you know the families as you say 76% of families are uh newcomers. So I become increasingly alarmed when I see you know kind of a parallel process. You know, you've got singles that can access a support like Matthew House that go to a reception center that get that sort of 12 weeks of support learning how to cook, learning how to recycle, learning how to whatever. Those singles are very successful in getting out of those transition homes into permanent housing. But if you have a family and you have multiple children, you can't access that type of support. So, you go into a hotel and motel where you don't get the practice. You know, I know that staff are doing their best to get in there, but it's a very different living environment. It's a highly stressful situation. You've got kids of various ages that are trying to do nap time, homework time, all this stuff, cook with a microwave. Then residents around them will see their kids outside because there's no place to go and wonder, are these kids getting the support they need? 503 children under the age of six are living in hotels and motel right now. under the age of six. It's just it's not okay. And um and I think I'm just really glad that we're going to start naming it. And I hope that, you know, in the next term of council, we can give the same attention to this as we are other aspects of hu of youth homelessness because this is I believe these families should have the same success rates as newcomers. These are not people who are, you know, um uh I mean they certainly have trauma, but they're not using substances. they are high, they have education, they have, you know, skills. Um, but there's just to me there's two tracks of support and it depends on whether or not you have a family. And I and I'm uncomfortable with that. I'm just deeply uncomfortable with that. Um, so can you just explain to me like I mean one the limit of the inflow. Okay. Um, fair enough. Um, it so you must be trying to solve something that you've seen. Why are people coming to Ottawa from Montreal? Why is that something that's happening that you need to uh fix? Thank you, chair. In terms of the Montreal question, uh primarily reason for inflow that we hear reported from families is really around they want to be able to access uh school in English, live in an English society. That's really a language is a huge piece of that depending on where you're coming from. Um the other piece that's commonly reported is some of the access to social services in terms of how Ontario's rent gear to income housing works. the priority list for that. Um, we have, I would say, more incentive to be in a city like Ottawa as compared to Montreal. So, primarily it's better outcomes for your family in the long term. We offer better programs here locally. Um, it's also very challenging. I'll mention on the newcomer and shelter side of things, they do not provide as deep level of supports within their shelter, newcomer reception systems um, within Quebec. So, those are, I think, the big challenges. And if I may, I'll just comment on some of your other points about what we're doing around the family system. Although the mayor's commitment has been to end youth homelessness, and we are, it's great to see we're focusing in on that. I want to be clear that we're not um leaving the family focus uh to the wayside. We've again through this report established a family working group with his sector partners beyond just housing to try and address some of the inequities that you're saying here. Um, I would also say within that we're as the housing homelessness leadership table and the 10-year plan, we need to absolutely address these family issues. It's a huge cost to the system. I will also mention a huge portion of what we've wanted to do with this term of council and we've been to supported to get one Corkstown Road um which we've just actually completed all of the shared kitchens in that building. So, we're not hamping families cook and microwave as you know 377 Oconor comes with all of those amenities. The other piece is when we own buildings like that, um, which is investments the city needs to keep making, uh, to ensure we meet demand, um, we're able to bring in things like newcomer settlement supports on site to help with cooking to do that kind of programming. It's very problematic, of course. One, when you don't have cooking facilities in hotels, um, but two, when you don't have the ability, like we don't own common space where we can bring things directly on site, it makes the service model challenging. So I will say um once we have 3770 Oconor up and standing, our intent is to get the system down with the number of families that were somewhere around that 300 mark which was our historical norm and then we would be able to provide primarily most all of our supports in those two buildings not using such a over reliance on those overflow spaces where I would agree with you are are not the best way to provide this and don't have the best outcomes for families when we're providing you know uh services at 28 28 plus scattered sites around the city. Okay. Fabulous. And yes, I I know we're doing a lot. Um I just uh I react to uh the kids stuff. I And I and I I won't be able to not do that and I know that you guys do that too. And so just so uh another question before I get off, I know other people are on there. So slide slide seven. um you know could you could you sort of in more plain language tell us in slide seven what was not being done before that is now being done um that like what what are the gains that you're getting through these changes. Thank you chair. Essentially the difference is our affordable housing weight list. So the city has a rent gear to income housing weight list, a below market rent weight list and an affordable weight list. The only one that has a full set of priorities, which is our local priorities, the other report before you today, um, is rent gear to income. So, all we're doing is taking that approach of creating what priority groups do we want in our affordable housing and we're creating a priority for homeless families. Okay. Very good. Um, all right. I'll I'll get off and if I need to get back on, I will. Thank you so much, Chair. Thank you, councelor. Councelor Brockington. Thank you, Chair. Um, councelor Johnson touched upon sort of the second point I wanted to talk about and that is the concentration of families um in a congregate living uh area whether it's a hotel or apartment what have you and um she's right that uh conditions are not ideal but the conditions from which these families came from were worse. So, as much as uh we are all concerned with the length of time people may be living in a hotel, for example, I recognize them at least comforted by the fact that it's better than the situation that they're coming from, knowing that we're doing our best to get them in uh more suitable accommodations. So, your work is very much appreciated and I know you know that uh these challenges exist. um when we consider uh situations like taking over the OK Conor building and we have such a high concentration of families in one location, can you just let me know and I think this came up when we were debating the issue of taking on that building or not, but what additional services or programming are we able to provide knowing there's a critical mass of people living there? It may not be beside a park. It may not have nearby amenities that these families need. So, just let me know how are we providing those types of services. How are we acknowledging that those needs exist? Thank you, chair. And it's an excellent opportunity to actually highlight how much better of a service we can provide when we own the building. So, I I'll I'll name a few of the primary ones, but there's a lot of kind of individual client level supports we provide. One of the most core ones is being able to have Ontario Works or social assistance come on site. So there is a mobile team that's run by our employment and social services team that's able to come on site directly meet with families so they're not having to take sometimes multiple buses. I will also mention in this case um we are very closely located to 370 Katherine Street at that Ontario Works office which also has a hub supportive services which families will be able to access in walking distance which is great news. The other one we're going to have the opportunity here is look at um bringing direct health care supports on site. So primary care supports. Um we're working with several healthcare partners on developing something like that again where we can actually set up clinic space in the main level of that building to provide on-site supports. And again if you have children, you're not having to travel as far as CHIO. Um can we bring some of that directly there? Um the other one I'll mention as well is the newcomer supports. As you saw, high high percentage of newcomer supports. The YMCA is another one of our community experts on how to support newcomers through their settlement journey and integration in the community. Um, we're also going to be working with them because their REI building is so closely located to get those supports on site as well. So, we kind of look back at how what's the quickest way we can transition people into long-term housing. I want to reiterate too, we didn't purchase 377 Oconor or one Corkstown or lease one Corkstown because we think that's the ideal service model. I think what we're trying to get to today is get back to and again in an ideal world shelter stays are done within a week. We just have you land there and then we have a place to bring you off. But we're trying to bring services and supports on site to eliminate any of those barriers for a family to get out there, search for housing, focus on what's important and getting into that permanent home with all of the amenities we would expect as Canadians. Excellent. Thank you. Are you seeing any correlation when you speak to your colleagues and other municipalities between the reduction in immigration uh Canadawide and perhaps a lessening of demand for affordable andor social andor supportive housing in more recent years? Thanks for that question, chair. in in a general sense in terms of um asylum seekers and migrants who come who are who are not coming through the regular refugee pathways for instance uh yes there's been a decrease. So uh especially in our singles system uh it's a very it's much more manageable within the capacity that we've built over the last three years. What we're seeing though and in the report clearly the the stats are increasing in terms of families who are finding themselves homeless and it's really due to economic factors uh and a combination of economic factors and social factors. Um so that's hasn't that hasn't decreased and if I could just correct myself it was 67% are newcomers not 76 I was having a bit of a moment there with the numbers. So 67% Thank you. I'll just ask Madam Chair, one last question. Um, immigration numbers are going to increase again at some point. The government is going to want to increase numbers at a larger rate than what we've seen last year, this year. Um, and those there'll be a greater demand on housing again just like what we saw 3, four, five years ago. Um, are we in a position to make recommendations to the federal and/or provincial governments to say, "All right, we know this wave is coming at some point, perhaps in the medium-term. Here's additional supports that we need to be ready for the housing crunch that we anticipate will happen again or at least worsen from where we are now if those numbers are significantly increased. chair, we continue uh on provincial tables and around um municipal tables to have these conversations and we just want to be very clear that the evidence doesn't necessarily um indicate that the it's immigrant immigrants coming in that create a housing crunch. The housing market has been tightening for everyone. Um, we've saw an end to rent control. The costs are are higher. The cost of inflation inflation hasn't decreased. The cost of food uh and other living costs are increasing for everyone. And so, yes, 67% are newcomers, but the the delta are not. And the trend continues that people find themselves in homelessness. We want to make sure that our advocacy with the federal government is a focus on affordable housing and a focus on supportive housing. Um, and when we're talking about supportive housing, the operating funding for supportive housing and we're talking about affordable housing, deeply affordable housing. So, in the agreement that we're about to sign um with Build Canada Homes, we can see two to 300 units of deeply affordable housing, and we need a lot more deeply affordable housing. Thank you very much, Councelor Brockington. Uh Councelor King, thank you, Chair, and I really do want to thank staff for all their hard work on this report. Um it's evident that the strategy represents the best use of available municipal resources and trying to allocate them in the best way and I think approving it is the right course of action. Uh but uh I think that the report also really did indicate that holding senior uh levels of government accountable for the resource gap is essential. Um, I would argue that our family homelessness system is in crisis not because the city has failed to act, uh, but because of the tools available to it. And I think we were hearing some of that in your, uh, discussion, Clara, around housing benefits, uh, social housing supply, genderbased violence, shelter capacity are controlled by other levels of government and are frankly eroding. And it's it's important for us to see more investments made into uh the system uh to benefit municipalities. Um I share the concerns that I heard from uh my my colleagues uh around uh the plight of children in the system. And I think we heard uh both in terms of reviewing the report and in uh the discussions we've had today that there are over 500 children under the age of six in the system right now. Uh the report acknowledges the research on developmental harm from extended homelessness. Uh so uh my question is are we actually tracking what happens uh to those kids uh both in terms of their development and education and if not how will we know the strategy is working for children specifically? Well, uh, chair, thank you for that. And one of the key reasons why staff have brought this forward is because of the fact that we have 50% of the 700 households, 50% of those people are children. Um, so we're going to take this on very seriously. and and more uh very recently um councelor Kavanaaugh and councelor kits announced the h health and housing table that's being formed as part of the work of the housing health and housing and homelessness leadership table and so this is going to be one of the um key topics uh on the agenda for that health and housing table is to try and and dig down into the data within our family uh shelter system and identify strategies where we can within our facilities more appropriately partner with key providers of services uh whether health or social services for children and one of the conversations we've been having is with CHIO and we're actually hoping to create a partnership with CHIO to have um to have someone saconda to us to actually create that strategy with us. So we're very excited about that. Well, I'm pleased that that uh strategy is under development because I mean um uh this is obviously uh to me the central challenge uh this uh number of children in the system and uh ensuring that uh they can come out of this system successfully and uh build uh their future that helps build our city uh in terms of uh its success. So I I'm pleased that there's work there. Uh I think that we have to examine every type of partnership around uh programming, every type of u partnership around supports to to ensure uh that uh we can uh lift children out of the system. Thank you, Chair. Thank you very much, Councelor King. Um Councelor Truster has spoken, so I'm going to go to you, Councelor Plant, and then we'll go back to to councelor. Thank you so much. Um so obviously I have a lot of families living in motel in the Aona Lodge and the Ottawa Inn. onto and Montreal Road. Um what I hear a lot from people is they, you know, they're applying for a small grant to do like a basketball program two times a week or a soccer program one time a week and they're small grants like a couple thousand dollars and then they're turned down. Um and as councelor King mentioned, you know, we we need to start tracking how these kids are doing because I have seen a lot of success with these small mini programs. We have, for example, a lot of our schools that are open from 6:00 to 8 to have those kids come back to a place that they're familiar with um and just do low barrier sports. And it seems to go really well. Anytime I've gone, it's packed. Like it's the gym is just packed. So, I would encourage you guys, whether it be through the community safety well-being framework or other grants to um to keep these kind of micro grants going because they they do seem to make a difference. even if the the tangibles are not immediately available and maybe children don't fill out a survey like adults can they um I don't know in my community they seem to be going really well but I guess sorry now I have a question uh thanks for your patience um I was just wondering and and and don't get me wrong I'm really thrilled about the purchases on OKConor and Corkstown is there will there be any effort to put more of this family shelter housing outside of the core thank you chair um so Just to reiterate both for the 377 OK Conor, it was through a request for offer. So, we really just were evaluating that perfect building. Um, I will say currently there is no available capital funding for an increase in transitional housing. So, we don't have in our plans as it stands to look at purchasing or leasing another building. Um, but certainly we would be going back out to a competitive process to kind of spread things around. We do, as you know, take into consideration our requests for offers like various factors like proximity to services, parks, that kind of thing. Um, I will say for 377 Oconor, the primary reason we landed on that one is because one, we didn't want to take rental housing off and one, we didn't want to kick people out of an occupied building and it was rather a unicorn for this. But certainly those would have to be considerations we go through again through another competitive process if we do need to expand. But hopefully again with this report and how we're going to be operating the system, we won't need to have significant overflow capacity um once things start flowing in the system the way we hope they will. Well, thank you very much, Council Plant. Uh Councelor Trustster, thank you so much. So, I imagine you saw the story that was in the Ottawa Citizen this week about a family where the reason they're in our family shelter system is because they have a child with autism and the school board uh and by extension the province refuses to accommodate that child. So, for those who didn't read this story, this couple um one of them is trained as a law clerk and was working as a law clerk. The other one works for the federal government and they have a little girl who has such severe autism that she requires an educational assistant full-time in the classroom, but the school told her that they can only give them an educational assistant 25% of the time, and that's not safe for that child who needs 24-hour supervision. Um, and even with one of them staying home with the child, they couldn't afford rent. So because of that deficiency in the education system and the fact that the education system is not providing an education to their child, they are now, I imagine, in a motel, I I'm not sure what facility they're in, but they're in the city shelter system. What do you do in a situation like that? How are we holding the province accountable for cases like that where a family is being made homeless by a decision by the school board and then by extension the provincial government? is I can only imagine this family with a high needs autistic child now potentially all in a motel room altogether like the outcomes for this child not being able to be in school. It's just it's such a tragic story and it's such a preventable one and I'm just wondering how do we what are we doing to to help the province understand that they they were the ones who did this? chair. First, our role in social services in the family shelter system is to help the family, to work with the family, and that's our focus. Uh outside of that, uh Kale and I and others continue to work at uh with other municipalities on municipal tables through the Ontario Municipal Social Service Association, AMO um and uh specifically with um staff within the ministries uh the province and the federal government. And we continue to raise up these kinds of stories. And these are exactly the kinds of stories that councelor Blockington was speaking about the the range of needs, the range of reasons why families find themselves homeless are diverse and they're comp complex. Um, and that's what makes the system very complex. And that's why families stay longer sometimes than perhaps we all feel they they ought to, but because they can't make it work sooner. And so our focus is really a person- centered focus. And that's why I'm so proud of the team for this strategy. And it's an incredibly innovative strategy. You heard Kale talk about prioritizing families for the affordable housing that we invest in. That's an incredibly innovative approach to make sure that we're uh firing on all cylinders to address this issue. Um but we continue to advocate with the province whenever we have conversations with them. We talk about the role of the municipality and um how we're struggling to meet the needs locally both financially uh and socially. I mean, yeah, that story just it just illustrates how one the bottom can drop out of your life based on one factor. Well, in this case, it was two factors because they were living with a family member who passed away and then they lost access to housing. I recommend that everybody read that story because it's incredibly eye opening and very upsetting. Uh yesterday I had a chance to visit Harmony House which is a second stage shelter for um families that were victims of uh intimate partner violence and there was 35 or 40 children living there and they have an afterchool program and on one hand it was like oh this is lovely you have an afterchool program and then on the other hand not lovely because these are families that are surviving family violence. Now, something I'm intimately aware of based on my role as the council liaison for women and gender and LGBTQ affairs is that the IPD shelters are kind of in a different stream because they're funded provinially. We don't necessarily fund them. But in talking to the staff yesterday, they said number one, people are staying way longer in second stage housing. It's essentially transitional housing because there's no place for them on the private market. and they find that women are staying in violent relationships because they have no place to go because they're scared of a lack of housing. So, how does this strategy work with women and families who might be exiting intimate partner violence shelters, not just city shelters, because they also need a place to go. Uh, thank you for the question, chair. Um, it is important to note that Harmony House and the victim of violence sector is a provincial responsibility. So I always want to be clear from city staff side of things. We do provide a critical overflow function to that system but we are not the primary support. Um the city's also made investments with interval house uh building supporting more violence against women capacity within the community which is really what we need to be doing. They have those on-site specialized um trauma informed supports from people who do this work all the time. So, I'll start by saying we really need to keep the pressure on the province to do this because there's expertise in the community that we don't necessarily have as an overflow shelter. With that said, really what we're trying to do with our strategy here is having that intense housing focus when you come in to be able to exit you from the shelter system as fast as possible. So bringing in those wraparound supports, we've actually again to give an example of Corkstown, we bring in work with the Western Ottawa Community Resource Center who does provide direct uh gender-based violence supports on our site and we'll have more opportunities to bring programming like that in when we expand to 377 Oconor. So with the buildings, it's going to support that, but also going back as a part of this implementing this case management strategy. Um we're really looking at to increase flow across the system. um victims of violence do have the ability to get special provincial priority for housing. So essentially they have a super priority under the housing services act on the provincial list. So it's really about supporting them with those wraparound supports and this model is really focused on that that we have buildings now that can actually bring in those supports on site and expediate some of those other concerns you'd have to be stable in your housing long term if you get one of those provincial offers. Okay. And are they also eligible for city subsidies when they exit that shelter? Can you clarify? So, if there's a family that's in second stage housing in Harmony House and they're ready for permanent housing and there isn't a uh priority rent geared to income unit available, do they qualify for city subsidies when they access a women when they exit a women's shelter? I assume they do. Uh generally, yes, but there are cases where there's not. It's quite complex in terms of like what our eligibility is, but it's actually something um gender- based violence sector sets on the housing and homelessness leadership table. We're starting to work on that. The other thing that's probably of interest to council, we are now integrating and I think we're one of the first to do this in Ontario. Um we're bringing on the gender- based violence sector to our hyphus, our data system because that one of the problems is we have a black hole into city visibility on our programming and to theirs. So, this is really going to help us actually identify some of those problems you just mentioned, start acting as an integrated system, though, you know, funded differently, and try and make sure the service experience for residents of Ottawa, regardless of whose government's running it, um, is the same. So, it's something we're going to be looking at and trying to streamline it so it's the same experience whether you're with the city or gender- based violence shelters. Okay. Thank you very much. And I'm really glad to hear that because those are not those families are not captured in the numbers that you quoted today. So imagine the se more than 700 families living in shelter or in motel and then add probably another two 300 who are living in intimate partner violence shelters because right now the systems are kind of siloed. So I'm really glad to hear that you're working on that together. Thank you. Thank you councelor uh councelor Johnson. Uh thank you very much. So, just a couple more questions about um the there's just a couple things in the report where we're going to be asking people, you know, that you have to take your offer and the reasons why you can't take your offer are changing. So, one of them is um no available on-site parking and the other one is reasons not disclosed during the household service plan. Can you just let this committee understand uh what that intake looks like? um what kind of questions you prompt. I just think that you know having that if that's becoming a reason why you can't um refuse housing, you want to make sure that process is really tight and replicable both to protect the city as well as the family so that there's no surprises later on when the housing becomes available. Thank you for the question chair. It is a really good question. So what we do when a family comes into our family shelter um and just for reference this is all outlined our requirements in our transitional housing program standards but essentially what happens is we do within the first 72 hours sit down do a case management plan. Um really that is focused going back to are there any barriers this person sees towards housing whether it be healthcare, child care, um settlement supports and we want to create a a system basically to wrap those supports around them so that my staff can focus on the housing element. So we don't um necessarily directly deliver a lot of those sub kind of programming supports that we need to do. Um so that's what we wrap around in the case management plan. And then what happens is we have ongoing meetings with them twice a month um to review that plan. What progress have they made on their sides? What issues or um things have they run into for those some of those wraparound supports? Um and then on the housing side, the reason we've said any valid offer is because often we hear things about I don't want this housing because it doesn't have parking. Oh, I don't want this housing because there's carpet in one of the bedrooms. Um, we accommodate as the city and this is our requirement under our programming to accommodate any medical u documented medical needs. So, for example, if you can't have carpet because your child has allergies, that's totally valid within the case plan. We would never say that is a valid offer of housing. So again, in terms of that affordable housing priority to make it very simple, the same um nuance of what you have to accept as a valid offer is very much tied to how we do that for rentar to income which is proincially legislated. So um it will align very much to that. And I would also say there's many many times we just heard one today about this family who entered family homelessness because um of their child with special needs. This is one of those examples where not everyone fits into our boxes. And you'll notice in the report, we've left discretion of both uh myself as the director, but also our case workers to assess on those individually family needs. There is always unique situations and there is no intent to use this as something to put somebody in a precarious situation outside of any shelter over their head. So, um it's really to set primary goals and so that a family and city staff unure our goal is to get from temporary housing to permanent housing and that's what that whole case management plan is focused on. Thank you for that. And um final question, what is what is the role for cooperative housing when it comes to some of this? Um I think that co-ops are uniquely positioned to have a lot of familysized units. And of course, given their um their values run by a cooperative, they do like, you know, certain number of job hours. I I imagine that they might be able to provide sort of uh like familyto-f family mentorship or some of those sort of social supports that some of these families might need as they're entering into the city. So, how are we sort of looking at co-ops as part of the affordable housing uh uh stock that we have to support these families? And I I do have an inquiry on the agenda today to ask a a similar question over the longer term. Thank you, chair. So, in terms of our existing affordable housing, there's 19 co-ops that the city works with in terms of our affordable housing portfolio. So, we do work closely with them. Um if those providers of of course were to build new affordable housing, they would be subject to this up to the target of a 20% requirement. So we'd work closely with them there. Um in terms of how we work with co-ops to get families out of family homelessness, it does follow that same registry process that we have for affordable housing, rent geared to income, and below market rent weight list. So we do keep that um very consistent. But I do think there's more future opportunities. you've kind of said this is really what we want to do especially for newcomers build community and co-ops are one of those unique models that are set up to do that um and really be able to pull that in. So I know certainly uh my colleagues in strategic initiatives who are responsible for building new affordable housing are having those discussions with uh some of those um agencies that support overall co-op organizations foundation. So I I know that will be an ongoing conversation there and we will continue to work with our funded housing providers with existing stock under this new framework. Thank you chair. Thank you councelor councelor carr. Thanks. I actually don't have any questions. Sorry just uh because the pref staff was so excellent. Um I just wanted to say how much I really appreciate the effort that has gone into um this report. Uh I'm one of many counselors who's, you know, dealt with families uh in my neighborhood that have fallen into homelessness and uh kept in contact with a couple of them as they've gone through the system. We know how dire it is, but uh the fact that we leased Corks down and purchased the uh hotel downtown gives a little bit more dignity than some of the previous motel that these families were living in. And I really appreciate all the work and effort. I know all the over the past couple years um you know despite the fact that the previous term at council declared a housing and homelessness emergency I don't think anyone could have predicted the spike in um irregular migration that occurred that uh really consumed uh you know our our efforts over the last couple years with respect to getting people out of the community centers and into a better um into a better system and we see that that was created with all the work that was done uh in creating that newcomer stream. We've seen the work that is underway with uh the work to get more the commitment to more supportive housing and uh really appreciate this bringing this focus on families to light. Um, I uh it it I I heard my colleague Councelor Johnson talk about how it impacts her and and certainly if your office does case work where people have fallen into homelessness and and you see the impact uh of it uh it uh it certainly does um have an impact especially u you know maybe a bit more when you're when you're a mom but or a dad but uh thank you so much to staff for this excellent report and uh sounds like we'll be on a birthday soon. Thank you. Thank you very much, counselor. I'm not seeing any further questions for you. Thank you so much, staff, for for everything you did. Um, is this item carried? Carried. Carried. Wonderful. Thank you. Um, we have item 5.2, uh, 2026 update to local priority rules. Does anyone have any questions in respect to that item? No. Okay. Uh, oh, we do. We have a question. I don't know. You thought you were free, but you're not. Don't run too fast. Councelor Johnson, hold on. That was real fast. Chair, let me just uh I'm just getting in my my dock here. Okay. So, we're making some um adjustments to the uh homelessness um local priority definition. And with the change is that applicants staying temporarily with friends or family do not qualify for homeless status as they do not meet the homelessness definition. So um I I can understand probably why we've done that is because we're trying to serve those that are the most acutely homeless with no supports. Can you comment on that? Thank you chair. That is correct. Um, what we're really trying to do is it's actually ties very much into our family strategy is that we are only able to provide resources for those who have absolutely no other option. And often when we were maintaining a family shelter weight list, um, we just couldn't get enough hotel space, that kind of thing. So, we do look for community supports when available to support this. Um, and again, similar to what I'd mentioned for the family shelter strategy, this is meant to be something as a last resort if there are other options. And I'll also say there's an element that came into this decision is the city needs to have legitimate oversight to manage our system. Um so the reason we've made this determination it has to be through a city funded shelter program is because we directly fund we manage eligibility criteria. We manage essentially the threshold of who comes in and out of that system and it really helps us from continuing that data understanding where our resources are going into the city to what is under our purview. So again, expanding it beyond that would be ill- advised from our side because we don't have a management to determine um families in those situations whether they would be eligible. Okay. And so what happens to those applicants um that are currently on the registry that are are staying with friends and family? Does this mean once this change goes into effect that they could be uh told to come off the registry or would they just be waiting until all the other folks got housing? Thank you, chair. So, nothing actually changes in this situation. We haven't made a change. So, what's included that currently they are not afforded a homelessness priority. So, essentially all we're doing existing practice is now being put into this document. We do not currently provide it. So they would remain on the registry weight list on the chronological weight list, not the homelessness priority weight list. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, counselor. So is this item carried? Carried. Thank you. All right. We held item 8.1 information previously distributed. That's personal consumption of alcohol in designated parks. I understand councelor Troster has a a quick question for staff. We have Dan Shenya here. GM. Yeah. Hi. So, we did the pilot and there were no complaints, certainly not in my ward. Uh the report indicates there were no major issues. My question is why are we doing another pilot instead of considering scaling this up across the city when if in the super high conflict wards that Cancer Plant and I represent, if this didn't present a problem, why are why are we not going further at this point? Chair, there's two two aspects to this. The first one is that uh the f the first year of the pilot last summer um even though overall it was very successful provided us with only minimal data both in terms of the number of sites. There were really only eight sites in five wards that um took uh took part in the project. um but also very limited data in terms of uh bylaw, police and other providing feedback in terms of uh complaints related to the park. Uh so in reviewing that then and trying to formulate a recommendation to council on what to do next which generally is heading in a direction of perhaps looking at a citywide um general acceptance of this as an approach and letting counselors and individuals wards designate. Uh we didn't feel there was enough data. Um the other uh at the time of writing this uh this uh document um the province was putting out signals that they would be releasing some changes to um to the rules that apply to alcohol outdoors. Um what they did end up doing was modifications to regul regulation 74721. um which is generally known as the tailgate regulation. Uh and uh the that regulation was expanded to include um any outdoor space for what the province has called cultural and community events le leaving it up to the municipality to decide whether they wanted to implement this. So in and we are still working on um on properly understanding that regulation and how it will apply to Ottawa. Uh but the initial thought is that it may have an impact in terms of our park designations that we had done. So what we what we are uh coming forward with is really to extend the pilot this year. Our intent is to um recirculate to all members of council an invitation to designate parks. We are hoping that there will be some modest growth in terms of the number of parks uh so that we can have um um a broader experience in terms of different kinds of neighborhoods. The the parks that were designated last last summer were primarily in the core of the city. Uh so we're hoping for that and an ability to monitor through this and to come back to you um early in 2027 with a recommendation which I hope will end the pilot then and provide a um a go forward strategy that will um likely be based on the pilot which is that staff work with um the ward counselors on identifying parks and areas of parks that are um appropriate for for allowing this. Um it will also give us a better understanding this summer of whether the new tailgate provisions um become a factor in parks as part of events that are staged in parks. So that is why we're recommending an extension. Okay. Okay. Well, I certainly support an extension, but if other cancers are listening, I'd encourage you to choose a park in your ward and prove that the that the sky doesn't fall cuz like really if if we didn't have an issue in Centertown and in Rio Vanier, I mean, people are bringing beers to their kids soccer game anyway. Like, we know it's happening. So, I you know, I just I actually have a problem with counselors having to choose. I don't like I think citywide policy should be citywide policy and not subject to politicians deciding where things should go. Anyway, um thank you very much for your information. I just think it's ironic that there were almost no complaints, so therefore we have no data. Let's because it wasn't an issue. So I would hope we can move on from this pilot after one more year. Thank you. Thank you, councelor. Councelor Brockington. Thank you. I just want to confirm through staff that it will still be at the discretion of the local counselor as to I just as to which parks uh will be uh engaged in at least the pilot at this point. Chair, absolutely. It will remain a discussion between staff and the ward counselor both in terms of whether they want to participate in the program and if they do which parks and which areas of the parks would be selected uh will be a a discussion with each of the ward counselors. Okay, fair enough. I'm not going to debate my colleague today, Madam Chair. Um, despite having reservations with alcohol consumption in parks, I do support a pilot because I think it's important to get data and see how it goes and where colleagues believe their parks are candidate parks, so be it. It's really at the end of the day a discussion that the counselor has with their communities to see which communities want to host the pilot. Um my question is regarding just if I can go back to the provincial government. Uh major festivals that exist in my ward have raised concerns about what this means because alcohol sales are a huge component of whether or not the festival survives and is able even to run. So could staff just clarify what does the provincial announcement mean exactly? Does the event organizer get the ultimate say whether patrons in the park can consume alcohol if they're not within the special event confines? Does that still apply? Just talk me through this so I can better understand, please. Uh, chair. Yes. The the the change in regulations uh provides a new permitting system that allows an applicant, an organizer in an event to apply for a BI. Well, bring your own um liquor to their event. Um they can do that within an event that they would have sale of alcohol themselves and also allow others to bring in their own or they can do it in the context of um a no sale event and the oftus used example is a family movie night in a park where the community association doesn't plan on selling alcohol um but perhaps would favor allowing the neighbors to bring their own. Um, in our work to date on this, um, we don't believe that we will see a lot of this because there is still the requirement for that organizer to get insurance for their event. And uh as uh members will know, the CPIP program, the umbrella that most of our community associations are um are covered by um will not cover liquor events. Uh which means that even if an association wants to sell liquor at their event, they have to go and get supplemental insurance. Supplemental insurance is available for a group to sell alcohol. It's it's more expensive. It it adds a cost to them. What is unclear and likely will not be readily available is insurance for a um bring your own type of event because there is well essentially no control of the level of alcohol somebody can consume, bring to an event which increases the risk. So the smart serve uh cutting people off if you will um that ability no longer exists and the insurance industry uh is not particularly anxious from the initial um comments we have received to ensure this. So we will see if that product becomes available as a city as a permitting agent. Um, if we are asked, we will of course ask for the insurance and then we'll look at working with ward counselors whether that's an appropriate activity for that park. So far, um, this regulation only comes in on April 30th, so it's perhaps premature to really know. Um but we expect that uh once the insurance challenge is brought forward that people will either go without liquor and not apply for this or um take the traditional route of serving having control over the amounts that are served and getting the more traditional insurance package. Thank you very much uh for that information. Appreciate it. Okay, wonderful. Uh councelor Plon. Yeah, thank you so much Dan. I read, I believe it was last week in the Globe, that the provincial government is, and you sort of touched upon this, potentially going to be allowing uh drinking in all public parks across Ontario. How long would the city have like what do you need to be able to implement that or is it just something that we would just implement because we are creatures of the province? Like what would be the what would be the steps we'd have to take here? Um, chair, if the province were to bring that kind of legislation, then it would supersede the municipal the parks and facilities bylaw that currently regulates this. Um, under the current bylaw, there is delegated authority for staff to be able to allow it in any park. Uh, I I suspect that it would supersede that and there isn't a lot that we could do. We would likely bring something back to council in terms of um I think we would still want to designate portions of parks where that isn't allowed if the provincial legislation would allow waiting pools, splash pads, play structures, those kinds of areas that we've traditionally shied away from. Uh but if such regulations come about, we'll do an analysis and we'll come back to this committee with recommendations. Okay, great question. Thank you for that. Um, I'm seeing no further questions for you, Dan. So, is this item received? Received. Wonderful. So, we uh we do have a notice of motion. So, uh, Councelor King, if you wish to read in your notice of motion. Uh, thank you, Chair. Whereas the city of Ottawa continues to experience increasing pressures related to unsheltered homelessness and encampments with impacts on both individuals and surrounding communities. Whereas seasonal trends and warmer weather conditions are associated with increased visibility and prevalence of encampments across the city resulting in a corresponding rise in service requests, community impacts, and the need for timely coordinated response. Whereas the city's encampment response involves multiple departments, partners, and reporting channels resulting in data that is currently collected but not consistently consolidated or proactively shared with ward counselors. Whereas ward counselors have sought regular and timely access to encampment related data. However, historical reporting has been inconsistent with limited updates providing provided in in recent years reflecting challenges in sustaining manual reporting processes. Whereas staff have indicated that the administrative effort required to manually compile and distribute encampment data limits the frequency of reporting and creates ongoing reliance on ad hoc requests. Whereas staff have incrementally improved access to more timely information through the development of a public facing reporting dashboard which would reduce reliance on manual reporting and improve transparency. Whereas the unsheltered homelessness outreach model report included the development of an integrated data system, improved tracking of encampments and enhanced public reporting to support coordination, transparency, and data informed decision-making. Whereas the city of Ottawa has successfully implemented standardized reporting tools in other service areas such as building permit activity and greenhouse gas emissions to improve accessibility, transparency, and operational awareness for counselor's offices. Whereas timely, accurate, and consolidated information is critical to enabling ward counselors to respond effectively to resident concerns, and the use of real-time data systems and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, can improve situational awareness, reduce reliance on manual reporting, and support more informed, responsive, and coordinated decision-making while also enabling counselors to better communicate with and educate residents and community organizations on encampment response. available supports and the city's approach. Therefore, be it resolved that community services committee recommend that council direct the general manager of community and social services in collaboration uh with relevant departments to one develop and implement a standardized reporting framework integrated with the data system being advanced through the unsheltered homelessness outreach model that provides timely updates. status of service requests for reported encampments that include response actions in a manner that maintain the privacy of residents experiencing unsheltered homelessness. Transparent, excuse me, transparent access to aggregated encampment related data for counselors and relevant community organizations on public-f facing dashboards. Use of data integration tools and emerging technologies including artificial intelligence where appropriate to consolidate information, reduce administrative burden, improve accuracy and enhance situational awareness to monitor and improve interim data collection and reporting processes following the Q3 launch of the UHOM in order to identify early parameters and considerations for the eventual reporting frameworks and provide interim updates to ward counselors to the extent possible where improvements are being developed. And three, report back to community services committee and council through memo on the proposed reporting framework including implementation timelines, resource considerations, and any privacy or data governance requirements by Q4. Thank you very much, councelor. We'll consider that at our next meeting. Uh we do have two inquiries. So inquiry 10.1 tennis city tennis and pickle ball court rentals. Councelor Fl um inquiry. What is the city's policy guiding the rental of city outdoor and tennis and pickle ball courts? Does it distinguish between for-profit and not for-profit rentals? Do other cities in Ontario have a policy that makes that distinction at the rate differentials based on profit or nonprofit? Do cities in Ontario ch charge different rates for profit or nonprofit? How many outdoor city- owned tennis courts, pickle ball courts are there by ward in the city? How many outdoor city- owned baseball diamonds are there by ward in the city? How many rented by ward to poor for for-profit and not for-profit entities by ward? How much revenue is earned from these rentals across the city in total per ward? Thank you. Thank you very much, councelor. Uh we also have uh cooperative housing and vice chair Bradley is going to read this in for uh councelor Johnson. Great. Thank you, chair. Uh, co-ops in Ottawa are an essential part of the affordable housing stock, but are independently governed and legislated, funded by other levels of government. Many are on city leased or federally leased lands. The city and the federal government are making significant advancements to unlock public land for affordable housing. Many co-ops would like to consider redevelopment as part of renewing their existing stock and adding additional units on available land. Co-ops often provide familysized units and given their cooperative values promote active citizenship, public participation, and mutual support. One, how many co-ops are there in Ottawa, both federal and provincial? Two, how many are there on leased land and from whom? Three, do residents of co-ops use RGI programs? Four, what is the city's current relationship to the cooperative sector in Ottawa? And five, what are the challenges and opportunities to leveraging cooperative housing as part of the city's larger housing and homelessness strategy? Thank you very much, vice chair. Uh, we have no other business. Uh, our next meeting is May 26, 2026. Are we adjourned? Ajourned. Have a great day, everyone. Enjoy the weather.

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