Region of Waterloo:
Housing and homelessness continues to be on the agenda at Regional Council. In April, a report went to council about encampments, and specifically around providing washroom access to the encampment residents at Victoria and Weber. In that report, staff noted that “the report is based on balancing the immediate needs for the residents of the encampment and a commitment for longer term equity for residents while calling on other levels of government for assistance.”
There were many delegations that evening (meeting minutes here), with the majority of delegations concerned about where encampment residents would go if they were to be evicted. Martin Asling, with Waterloo Region Yes In My Backyard “stressed that providing bathrooms are a form of harm reduction.” He urged Council to support the recommendation (to provide washroom access) and to ensure that advocates are involved in the design of any encampments protocol.
Aleks Petrovic, with the Social Development Centre stated that “there should be no debate about the need to provide basic human needs, but noted that no one thinks that encampments are the best solution.”
Regional Council discussed the Regional Official Plan review on May 18th, 2022, and many delegations spoke at that meeting. Some were in support of a community-created ‘Option 4’ which you can review here. You can also see a summary of the delegations that spoke, in the council minutes, or watch the meeting on YouTube.
It’s great to see support for this motion, brought to council on May 25th, 2022: That Regional Municipality of Waterloo endorse decriminalization of simple possession with expanded access to health interventions as a drug policy position, in alignment with the recommendation put forward by the Waterloo Region Integrated Drugs Strategy ; And that Regional Council send letters to the federal and provincial governments advocating for a modernized legal framework for drugs, including decriminalization of simple possession, and increased investment in prevention, treatment and harm reduction programs, including safer supply programs.
Many councillors stated their support for the motion, saying that these are health issues, not criminal ones. According to one delegate, police are very much in support of this motion, noting that “We know we can’t arrest our way out of these issues.” I can only assume that if police no longer need to spend time and resources on these issues, that we’ll see less money needed by the WRPS, and additional funds can go to support upstream services, right? Anyone? This Cambridge Today article provides additional details on council’s decision.
Kitchener:
In April, Kitchener Council approved an Affordable Housing Development Charges Waiver policy to help increase affordable housing in Kitchener. This allows non-profit housing developments in Kitchener to have their development charges waived by the City, making their projects more viable. The policy is retroactive to January 1st, 2020 and it’s estimated “the $2M Council earmarked for affordable housing during the 2022 budget will benefit between 190 to 280 qualifying units”.
It’s good to hear that Kitchener is taking some action on affordable housing because according to a recent Environics survey, “affordable housing, homelessness, roads and climate change topped the list of issues that Kitchener residents said are most important to them.” I find it interesting that both ‘roads’ and ‘climate change’ are of high-interest to residents, but that’s a post for another day…
And while we may enjoy complaining about our government at times, that survey also found that, “satisfaction with the City of Kitchener government is high at 78%”. 60% of respondents believe they receive good value for their tax dollars, and 26% of residents surveyed favour increasing taxes to improve services.
On April 25, members of Council, the City's corporate leadership team and Equity staff participated in the Black Presence in Berlin walking tour where they learned about “Kitchener's connection to the early Black settlers of the Queens Bush settlement and visited former sites where Black residents lived, ran businesses and taught in schools in the 19th century.”
The “Black Presence in Berlin” tour is led by Peggy Plet and is open to the public through Stroll Walking Tours.
Upcoming issues to note for Kitchener Council: At the Finance and Corporate Service June 8th meeting, council will discuss a staff report, entitled: “Queen Victoria Statue: Community Engagement and Public Education”. Staff recommend: launch “an equity-driven community engagement process to gather ideas and feedback from the community with respect to the Queen Victoria statue located in Victoria Park, and, develop a public education process around the history related to Queen Victoria, the statue and its impacts.”
A recent CBC article explained that the process could take nearly a year. “If the recommendations are approved, staff would begin research on the education campaign as early as July and the feedback process could begin in October. A report back to council is expected in the spring of 2023.”
The article states that, “Amy Smoke, one of the co-founders of the Land Back Camp KW, said they hope to see meaningful dialogue and progress come out of the recommendations, which they worry may be "performative." Amy Smoke added, “I also think that allies and white settler Canadians need to be stepping up to the plate and advocating alongside us.” If you would like to do exactly that, at the June 8th meeting, click here to register as a delegate.
Waterloo:
While the weather may be sunny and warm right now, Waterloo Council has winter on their mind - specifically snow-clearing. At the May 9th meeting, Council asked staff to “explore the possibility of bringing in contract help to assist with the clearance of intersections (crosswalk areas) within the uptown, sidewalks/trails and city-owned parking lots during high snowfall events.” Waterloo will also develop a “campaign to communicate service levels and clearance expectations during a snow event.” While I’m glad that snow-clearing discussions are actually happening at our local councils, the steps outlined here fall short of what we really need. I believe that if a city truly values year-round mobility and accessibility for all of its residents, then it must take on city-wide sidewalk snow-clearing - but that too will need to be a post for another day…
Thanks for reading! What local council issues have caught your interest lately?