Testing, testing, testing. >> I hear you. Good afternoon everyone. We will look to get started with the 14th meeting of the community and protective services committee. We'll start first with the land acknowledgement. The city of London is situated on the traditional lands of the Inishabek, Hodnosoni, Lenny Paywok, and Adawandrin. We honor and respect the history, languages, and culture of the diverse indigenous people who call this territory home. The city of London is currently home to many First Nation, Matei, and Inua. Today, as representatives of the people of the city of London, we are grateful for 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 support for meetings upon request. To make a request specific to this meeting, please contact CPSC atlondon.ca or call 519-661-2489 extension2425. And we'll move to item one, which is disclosures of pecuniary interest. Okay, seeing none, that takes us to item two, which is our consent agenda. We have uh four items of which to address in consent and one which has some delegation statuses to it. So we would look to move that to uh part uh four in our agenda items for direction. So I'll look for somebody to move the consent items. I have I have councelor Ferrer, councelor Traso. So that's 2.1 2.2 2.3 and 2.4 looking for speakers on these items. Councelor Purple go ahead. >> Thank you chair and through the chair to the staff. The first question I have to 2.2 two regarding the fire department the purchase and my question is we are addressing 25 of them the licenses and my question is is it uh is there a need for higher than 25 or there's the first 25 last 25 or are there some budget constraints I know in the budget we do have money but is it specific amount that we are looking at within this account if you could please comment on that thank you >> thank you I'll go to Miss Smith >> thank you and through the chair uh our current uh frontline apparatus all have this technology already at least 98% of them. The only ones remaining are new vehicles that we will get in and when we do we will obtain that for them when and if we get the new vehicles. So 25 vehicles are left and this is our entire fleet for uh fire inspection and fire education. >> Councelor Perbone, >> thank you very much. That's really good news and especially because number one is safety and that was in the report. So if it's 100% fantastic news thank you. Uh regarding 2.3 are we going one by one or can I address all in on consent? Yes, you can dress all. >> Thank you. Under 2.3 with the funding and excuse me, I'm just going to go to it. When we select these projects, because there are currently two in front of us and I do understand they are kind of in two different areas in our region, but do we evaluate kind of the amount of investment and kind of the what's called the ROI, return on investment? How do we look at these different projects that come to us and how do how far do we take the evaluation on return on investment? >> Thank you. I'll go to Mr. Felberg. >> Uh thank you and through you madam chair. >> Um so uh what we do we take a look at all the different projects that we may be following or tracking for an affordable housing development and we look at it in the context of the requirements of the of the particular program. So in this case, the OFI program has a very specific requirement. The construction must start within 120 days of signing the agreement. So we don't have a a large number of projects that actually meet that status. So in this case, we had two projects. One of them uh the Xarn project, the local one, we do have to push a little bit on the development uh applications and some of the approvals related to the site plan, but the other one is pretty much ready to go. Um so that that's effectively how we prioritize them. >> Counselor, >> so thank you for these two and that's that's really good news. Uh if we had and I don't like hypothetical questions, but my question is this. uh how high the ROI if we have 10 projects versus $1 million our budget is 800,000 so 200 over how how would we evaluate how high would be the return on investment based on the project based on our investment and how many units are delivered is this one of the criteria is it high >> Mr. Felberg. >> Uh thank you and through you madam chair. Uh so to give you a bit of perspective um the province released this kind of program twice this year. Uh the first time was in January and the project that we selected at the time we actually submitted two and were asked to pick one or the other. Uh the first project we picked was the homes for heroes project um which has 25 uh affordable units which is supporting veterans. It's on the the hospital lands. Uh it was also one of those modern methods of construction projects. So very quick uh and actually I just drove by on the weekend and they are very close to being complete. So very like huge ROI on that project. With the the one in the county uh it's providing supportive housing as well. So it's it's providing a slightly different uh type of um service to the community. With the Xarin project, it's one of our own that we've actually prepared the land. So it it really varies. It depends. And the really the key component here is that they have to be able to start construction within 120 days and that's how we're making the choice because if not then we risk the uh not being eligible to use the funds. >> Councelor, >> thank you for this answer and that certainly puts it into my perspective. So thank you for that two points and then I have last question on 2.4 and on the 2.4 for when I look at the last page where it says the streamlined renewal framework the six points uh that are made are absolutely great and uh very happy that this new agreement will address all these six points. Can you please on the C part annual review and compliance requirements when it says the agreement template formalizes annual re review requirements and establishes a clear framework for demonstrating ongoing compliance with program and contractual obligations which is great but then it also says reducing administrative burden and clarifying roles. Can you just want this part clarify it more? Thank you. >> Thank you. I'll go to Mr. John >> through the chair. Um yes, there is the responsibility that's placed on the housing provider themselves to ensure that um the tenants that are moving into those units are in compliance with the program expectations including income eligibility reviews um any other expectations around teny. The city is still certainly involved in in overseeing that role. It just places uh the greater burden on the um housing provider to ensure that anyone that moves into those units are compliant with the terms of the agreement. Um the city is certainly still involved in the oversight. >> Councelor Purple. >> Uh last followup. So if there's going to be city is going to be doing the oversight, how will we be the annual review done? >> Mr. John >> through the chair. Um there will be a requirement for the housing providers to complete annual reporting requirements which includes uh things like a rent role uh that verifies the income levels of the tenants that are moving in to just ensure that people the right people are moving into those units. So the reporting requirements lay with the housing provider um and the city would be reviewing those reports annually. >> Councelor Perval. >> And thank you all very much. No more questions. >> Thank you. Looking for other speakers on these items? Seeing none, we'll open the vote. Votes yes. Closing the vote. The motion carries 5 to zero. Thank you. That takes us back to our or I guess it takes us to 5.1. >> Oh, sorry. >> Sorry. Back to 2. That's why I wasn't sure. Sorry. Takes us back to 2.5. The report back the housing stability services procurement and development delivery framework of services and unsheltered homelessness and encampment initiative. So, uh, UHI. Uh, I'll look for a mover and seconder for uh the delegation request. Thank you. I have councelor Hopkins and councelor Privile. Thank you. Um can we make it for both delegation requests? Sorry for Y. So we'll do that for all the delegation requests received. Um, in just a moment while we get that ready should be open for you. Closing the vote. The motion carries 5 to zero. Thank you. and we'll start our delegations with Miss Moss if you don't mind coming up to the microphone. Thank you. Nice to see you. You have five minutes for your requests for delegation and please begin when you're ready and I'll let you know when you have about 30 seconds left. >> Thank you. Good afternoon chair and members of committee. I'm Chris Moss from London Cares. Before anything else, I want to thank CIC administration for bringing this recommendation forward and for recognizing the need that exists around 602 Queens a and in the surrounding neighborhood. I want to thank our neighbors in Woodfield, Midtown, and Oldies Village who've provided feedback along the way, as well as members of council who have taken time to visit our site, ask difficult questions, and engage in thoughtful conversation about how we move forward together. I think we all recognize that homelessness affects everyone. It affects people living without stable housing, but it also affects neighbors, businesses, and community organizations. One of the concerns we hear most often is quite simple. When people have a concern, they want to know someone listened, responded, and followed up. Homelessness is an outcome of years of significant underfunding that has resulted in tens of thousands of homeless individuals in our province. Locally, our system is working tirelessly with what we have. And according to the city's dashboard, we have 152 new people to homelessness last month alone. The scale of this challenge continues to grow and the report before you recognizes the system pressures and unmet needs substantially exceeding the available resources. One of the main complaints that exists is that people living unsheltered in our neighbor are in our neighborhoods and in the doorfronts of businesses and that there is no place for them to go. No washrooms, no place to get out of inclement and extreme weather, no place to sit safely, connect with support or simply take a break from walking the city all day and all night. When those options don't exist, people end up in public spaces not because they want to, because they have nowhere else to go. And this causes valid concerns. And those concerns require attention. As a result, outreach teams, foot patrol, bylaw, shelter, and community agencies often find themselves responding to the same people with the same concerns without enough resources to address the root cause. The reality is that we're often managing a housing crisis rather than solving it. Today, we're discussing a six-month, $65,000 pilot involving two community impact specialists. These staff will be visible in the neighborhood every day. They will build relationships with residents, businesses, and property owners. They will respond to concerns, support cleanliness and property maintenance efforts, engage people experiencing homelessness, connect them to services, and housing supports. Their work is based on engagement, relationships, practical problem solving, and housing focused supports. I want to be clear that these roles are not police officers, bylaw officers, or security guards. They're not intended to replace the work of any existing services. These positions are not solutions to homelessness. They can create they cannot create housing that isn't available and they cannot replace mental health services, addictions treatment, or supportive housing or broader housing investments. What they can do is help us respond better to the reality that we're in today. This is a trauma-informed relationship-based approach focused on community engagement, accountability, and housing focused outreach. One of the things I'm most excited about is the accountability component. London Cares will create a clear way for residents and businesses to bring forward concerns and know what has happened next. We will create an online complaint system with QR code where people can document concerns and our teams will respond, follow up, and be honest when an issue is beyond our control. We'll track neighborhood concerns and responses alongside our approaches, our engagement, and our outcomes. And the result will show council what this approach improves, what it cannot fix, and where future investment is needed. People deserve to feel heard. The council deserves to understand both what actions were taken and what larger system barriers continue to exist. So today, I'm asking for your support of this recommendation. It is a practical response to immediate needs and creates a visible point of contact for neighbors and improves accountability. It will help keep people connected to housing pathways as we continue to work on larger solutions. I'll leave you with one final thought. Housing first remains the answer and I strongly request that council continues advocating with provincial and federal partners for appropriate levels of investments needed to address the cause, not just the symptoms. Municipalities cannot solve this challenge alone. This is a helpful step forward and I appro I hope you'll support it. Thank you very much for your time. >> Thank you. Uh so we have one more delegation so we will invite those folks to the microphone. Good afternoon. My name is Lisa Malre and I come to you in my capacity as chair of the arcades board. First and foremost I wish to express my gratitude for the stewardship of this committee for with the funding recommendation before you. But I also want to highlight that this is just a step, a step towards ending a critical crisis. I would be remiss at this point not to highlight that this is partial funding of three proposals that the arcade put before this committee. The unfunded pro proposals recommend innovative eda evidence-based and creative strategies towards ending homelessness. We wish to provide leadership with our partners to look towards a solution that ends homelessness rather than stop gap measures that address service current service gaps. To do this, we need to partner with you, our city partners. We are advocating today to for increased focus on a stable and consistent funding framework. Inconsistent and intermittent funding means that the board's focus has been shifted from strategic and visionary opportunities to end homelessness to tactics and operations just to meet current demand. It is our wish to bring forward leadership within the city to provide the evidence-based, creative, and innovative approaches that would mean this city could be a city that ended homelessness. While we applaud the current funding as a board, we wish to work with you and alongside the city to shift from tactics to vision and opportunity. We believe that if we can work in this manner together and collaboratively, we can meet the city's need for accountability metrics and proven outcomes to shift the direction of the programs within the city and truly to end homelessness. I believe that the two goals of the city of affordable and attainable housing as well as a city that promotes well-being of its residents are not mutually excl exclusive. In closing, one of the key things I want to talk about and I'm going to use my role as board chair to advocate. We often talk about homelessness as a crisis and a problem. And I believe those words tend to lead us to enter into a conversation in the broader public that puts people in roles of victim and villain. I believe in a city where everyone is acknowledged and recognized, where everyone can fulfill their purpose and their meaning in life. In order to do that, we need to work collaboratively. And I advocate that we caution the words we use and start listening to the stories. I have been intentional with my board members that they have conversations with individuals experiencing homelessness that we stop talking about the problem we're solving and we start thinking about the individuals we are serving. And in my capacity as board chair, I wish to advocate for that today. That we all collectively start promoting the stories and the solutions for individuals with homelessness rather than viewing it as a crisis. I offer today the work of all the boards of nonprofits in the housing continuum to provide leadership and vision to a better strategy. I believe there is an opportunity for this and future councils to not manage the problem but to be known as the councils that solve homelessness. It is a possibility and there is evidence and strategies that that is possible. In order to do that, you need the boards of those nonprofits to be able to shift their focus from donor dollars that fund tactics and operations and focus their shift to providing you with the vision and the foresight and the future planning necessary to end homelessness. I believe we can work together to achieve this aim, but it does require a stable and consistent funding framework, and that is what I'm advocating for today. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Malber. Uh with that, I will look to committee for a motion. Um, we've got in front of us the framework uh that's provided and a motion that includes the reallocation of $350,000 to the organizations as outlined and stipulated in the report. I'm looking for a mover and seconder. I have councelor Ferrer, councelor Trasa. Thank you. Uh, with that I will look for speakers on this item. >> Councelor Traso. Go ahead. >> Yes. Um, thank you. uh through to through the through to the chair. Um I really appreciate getting this staff report back. I particularly appreciate getting it back today before the end of our term. This is something that we had been working on. We we sent you a request to do this report. Here it is. I think it's a um fine report. It's certainly not enough, but it's what what's been asked for. And I'll just be supporting the uh staff report. I'm not offering any um amendments and I don't have any criticism of it. I just really want to acknowledge uh the words of wisdom that we just heard from the last speaker and then and the and the previous speaker. But I think some of the things that um you said particularly at at the end is really sort of a really good positive way for us to be ending this council and think about um maybe trans maybe going into the next maybe going into the next one if any of us are um so lucky. So uh again thank you but uh in in particular thank you thank you to the staff for getting this back to us in time. It is very much very much appreciated and I'll be supporting this. Thank you. >> Thank you. I have councelor Hopkins next followed by councelor Ferrer. Councelor Hopkins. Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. And maybe just following up on Councelor Trussel's comments, uh, I too would like to thank staff for getting this back to us sooner than later. It's very much appreciated. I also want to thank the two delegates here. Um, a committee. I I really uh listen intently to everything you say. You are the ones that are doing the work on the ground, and I thank you for that. Uh, it's a step It's accountability. It's not enough. Uh but we've got to do something. And so I am going to be supporting this uh recommendation. I think if anything we need to continue these conversations, understand I find uh it's very complex. Uh we had a AMO board meeting last week and AMO continues to advocate with the provincial government to uh support municipalities when it comes to addictions, mental health, housing with supports. It's that simple. We cannot do it on our own, but we have to do something. This is a tool that um will come back to us to give us a better understanding. And I I often think um that we all need to do a better job and I'm looking at myself just as much to understand and and work together. I I know other countries have been able to to do it and uh see the results and it does take time and it does take money but I know we here in the city of London can also do it. So thank you. >> Thank you. You have councelor Ferrerin next. >> Thank you, chair. Um I guess I'll start with the two speakers. I appreciate um everything that I was hearing. Uh common themes, evidence, data. Let's look at what works. Let's use that. Let's take the politics out and just know what we know works cuz in a crisis, especially in a time, the uncertainty we have in these times, you know, it's there's no time to waste. So, I really appreciate that common theme that was coming from both speakers um to the report. So, I would strongly say to anybody who's watching, go to section 2.2 of this report. It's called systemwide budget pressures. It's on page 112. I thought that was excellently written. a nice concise highle review of the challenges that the municipality is facing everything that impacts us downstream. It is very well laid out. I think Mr. John wrote that. I thought that was in very well done. Um I read it twice just because it it was very very well. Some of the um points that you made in that was the funding streams are often uh temporary or timelmited or received unpredictably and that results in impacts that results in staffing impacts that results in um the inability to plan reliably because you don't know if we're going to have funding there. Um it it results in rapid implementation of new initiatives as you articulated and you know the accelerated procurement process. it leaves us kind of, you know, on the back foot a lot. And I really appreciated um you pointing that out and pointing out the fact that if we had long range planning or sustained investment, uh we would be able to plan much more thoroughly and be able to actually build a system that captures more of the gaps that we have. But still, you did point out that it again the upstream pressures that lead to homelessness in all its forms. um we do need heavy um resources and investment from the different levels of government whe whether it's um you know the resources themselves or the policy frameworks or the planning frameworks and it has to be something that goes well beyond the municipality. So, I really appreciated uh you pointing that out and you know and everything else. There's way more, but I would strongly recommend it's a page and a half, I think. Read that. Anybody page 112, it starts there. Um I'm obviously going to support this. Now, as you pointed out, this is still a drop in the bucket, but we will take um you know, the help we can. I do appreciate the work that was previously done to give us this extra money so we can reallocate it. I think that um everything here is is required. Obviously, we need more than that. And I would also say, you know, in in the last four years, I have been clearly hearing that, you know, people are perceiving homelessness as a crisis and a problem. I agree. But I usually um kind of also include, you know, it's a symptom as well. It's a symptom of collective apathy and it's a symptom of systemic failure in in many levels of the of the systems that we operate in. So, as long as we can highlight those failures, um that is the way forward. But it goes back again to um you know, really kind of using the evidence, knowing what we know, what doesn't work, and filling those gaps and not being political at all about it cuz that's really the only way we can solve this crisis. We really do need to collectively come together, look at the evidence, and just work together on this because solutions can be had. Um, we just need to be able to actually communicate in a way to do that. We all want the same thing. Um, we just need to recognize that and that's how we need to approach this knowing that we want the same end. We just need to find a way to get together to figure out the means to get to that end. So, I'm going to support this. I appreciate the work. Again, read page 112, section 2.2. Thank you. >> Thank you. Councelor Purple next. >> Thank you and thanks again to the staff because the the proposal that came back I truly believe we do have a system in place. Could it be better? Absolutely. To address these issues, but we do have a system in place. If this funding wasn't going to directions to these organizations and for this initiative, I do think that in the current system we have there would be additional holes and this way makes it I would say more stable hopefully stronger. Uh thank you both to both delegates. I do want to address one thing though. Uh I heard we need to move from tactics to the to vision and opportunity. And uh just to say both all of us are on this horseshoe and our staff there was a we did have a at the beginning great initiative whole of community system response and we had different teams different panels different tables that came back in terms of the vision in terms of the opportunities that there are and there are many that we talked among ourselves again around the horseshoe and with the staff it comes down mainly to the money to the financial situation and it's not that none of us wouldn't want to do more or better but there are financial constraints and that's the issues that we are dealing with so even though I believe the vision opportunities we all see it we do it compared to within our system with organizations like yours we do the comparative analysis with other cities in North America in Europe etc we do that so it's not that the vision wouldn't be there but that's the problem that the funding is not big enough and guess what happens then then we are obligated to go to the tactics because we need to deliver the musts in the current system that we currently have. So there are no more bigger holes and we make it if not better hopefully better but at least stable. So I just want to mention this because when I when I do hear it sometimes it's not that we would know where to go direction and how to improve it. If I look at our social services within the city, our housing, we all know that. We really do. But the funding is an issue. It comes down to the money. But thank you. Those are the comments I want to make. I will certainly support that because as I said, what I started with. Uh I'm very glad the staff came back with what they came back with because that makes the current system uh solid. Thanks. >> Thank you. Looking for any final thoughts on this item. Okay. Seeing none, just from the chair. I want to thank uh the delegations. I want to thank staff for the report back and the fast turnaround as well on this. And with that we will open the vote. Closing the vote. The motion carries 5 to zero. >> Thank you. That takes us to item 5.1 which is the added uh eighth report of the environmental stewardship and action community advisory committee. I'll be looking for a mover and seconder for this item. Councelor Traso, Councelor Hopkins. Thank you. Any speakers on this item? Councelor Hopkins, go ahead. >> Yeah, I just have a question. What um maybe I should have done this before committee. Uh I just I know we're approving a purchase for an air visual indoor and outdoor monitor bundle. Just curious as to what that is. >> Do I have the right report? >> Yeah, you do. >> You do. Just a moment. >> Yeah. Unfortunately, there's no one from the committee here, so we don't have anybody to answer questions on that item. >> I'm fine uh for approving it, and I'll do some followup after committee. Thank you. >> Thank you. Are you looking for any other speakers on this item? Councelor Trasa? >> Yes. Um through the chair, I did attend uh the advisory committee meeting when they had at least part of this budget discussion. And while I started out having some questions about this, I was I was really satisfied in the course of that meeting that they had really thought thought out thought thought out the um the situation and that uh the recommendation was well founded. So I'm very happy to support this um this this this budget allocation. I think it's moderate and I think it's something that a lot of good will come from. And uh you know uh as as always I want to thank I want to thank the uh members of this advisory committee for really really taking up issues and uh reporting to us. This is exactly what an advisory committee is supposed to do and um I I thank them. So I'll be supporting this and that's all I have to say. >> Thank you. Any other speakers? Seeing none, we'll open the vote on this item. Closing the vote. The motion carries 5 to zero. Thank you. That takes us to the other submission on the added which is the toll puddle cooperative. Uh councelor Stevenson is not able to join us and the delegate is not able to be here until much later after the committee is likely done sitting. Uh just wondering how the committee would like to deal with this submission. Councelor PBLO. >> Thank you chair and based on this information and also uh report that will be coming back from the staff uh I would like to put on the floor referral till the next CPSC meeting. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh is there anything you wanted to include with that as well? Any um perspective from our legal team? Sorry, could you repeat that? >> Uh, is there any other would are you looking for legal advice to go along with your submission? >> No. >> To go I mean for for November 30th >> for November 30th. >> Yes. No, just uh again for our staff uh in their report based on what's in based on what the other what the counselor submitted and the points uh addressed for our staff to consider both from the report point of view and also legal point of view but not I wouldn't say anything specific I do want to refer it uh the two are not present here plus the staff uh report is coming back staff and legal please consider those Okay. Thank you. So, just thank you for clarifying that on the referral. So, so you're looking to refer it. I'm looking for a second on the referral. >> Just before anything, chair, is it possible we uh request staff on information? I believe we do have a direction coming back at some point. I wanted to >> Yes, it's November 30th. >> We do have a report already coming back November 30th before this referral. >> That's where we're referring this to. >> Thank you. I have councelor Hopkins as a seconder. any further uh conversation on this council Pereira. >> Thank you through you to staff. I believe I don't know um we had this discussion. I wanted to know if we already had a report coming forward with this and does this referral fit into that with this um fit into the schedule we had already on it. >> Thank you. I'll go to Mr. Felberg. >> Uh thank you Madam Chair and through you. Yes. uh in the April report when we sought advice from council on the transition plan and uh authority to take the actions under the transition plan we indicated that we'd be coming back in Q4 given the uh committee cycle the next possible CAPS meeting is November 30th and we'll have a report on that agenda and the delegation could be applied to that >> councelor. Uh, thank you. And through you, does this make any changes on the previous direction? >> Uh, thank you. And through you, Madam Chair? No, it doesn't. >> Council Ferrer. >> Thank you. So, this is a reaffirmation from council to bring it back, but unrequired. Okay. I will support it, but I do see that uh we're doing that work already. >> Thank you. It was really to send the communication that was here to the November 30th meeting because we have communication on the agenda. Thank you. Looking for other speakers. Okay, seeing none, we will open the vote. Closing the vote. The motion carries 5 to zero. >> Thank you. I've not been made aware of any additional business. With that, we will go to item six, which is adjournment. I have councelor Ferrer, councelor Hopkins by hand. All in favor. Motion carries. Thanks everyone. Heaven.