In August, the Mayor directed (MDI-2-24-02) City staff to research and prepare options for Winter shelters to present to Council by the end of September 2024.  Following the staff's presentation to the General Information Committee meeting on September 18, the majority of City Council asked staff to move forward with an 80-bed outdoor shelter site at Barton-Tiffany and the addition of 192 temporary shelter beds as part of Hamilton’s continuing efforts to address a growing homelessness crisis.  The outdoor site will offer insulated units, wrap-around support services and onsite amenities, including toilets, showers, and laundry.  Professional staff and security services will be on-site 24 hours daily, seven days a week.  The site operator will be Good Shepherd.  The site will operate as a shelter.

In June, city staff presented a one-year review of Hamilton’s encampment protocol to a full committee of Hamilton City Council.  The protocol has been in place since August 2023. Council approved the following changes:

The Province of Ontario and the Government of Canada are funding a 14-kilometre Hamilton Light Rail Transit (LRT) Project. Metrolinx is the provincial agency overseeing the project. Metrolinx indicated that they were open to input from the City of Hamilton regarding the role the City wanted to play in the LRT's operations. The final decision, however, rests with Metrolinx. Regardless, in all cases, Hamilton LRT will remain publicly owned.

City of Hamilton staff put forward several operating models for Council's consideration. I supported the staff recommendation, which called for the private operation of Hamilton LRT for a limited time. The purpose of this letter is to share why I took this position and to be accountable to Ward 1 residents for my vote.

Hamilton City Council passed its 2024 operating budget on February 15 with a tax increase of 1.64% for essential city services and 1.6% for housing/homelessness services.

An additional tax impact of 2.55% comes from the Government of Ontario's shift of infrastructure costs from land use developers to existing local property taxpayers. Premier Ford has promised to "make municipalities whole" and permanently alleviate the impact of this provincial policy decision, but this has yet to occur. 

The local and provincial impacts meant an increase of 5.79% overall.

The budget leverages the City's strong financial position to manage affordability while responding to the rapid legislative changes and insufficient funding to pay for the impacts of Provincial policy.

You may have read or heard that half of Hamilton's City Councillors were blocking the City's efforts to allow for affordable housing on city-owned parking lots in downtown Stoney Creek, requiring the Mayor to use Strong Mayor Powers to resolve the impasse. These lots offer free parking, have been declared surplus for many years, and have been zoned for multi-residential use for 30 years.

To borrow from Edmund Burke, elected representatives, more than anything else, owe the public their judgement and not just their obedience to public opinion.  Citizens’ trust in government is frustrated when actions don’t match words.  

Any decision on housing affects everyone across the City.  Hamilton City Council unanimously declared a housing crisis in April 2023, followed by unanimous support for an action plan to bring focus and urgency to this crisis.  All of Council committed to action, not just words.

The action plan is called the Housing Sustainability and Investment Roadmap (HSIR). It is intended to be a "whole community" response, with the City of Hamilton partnering with community organisations to build affordable housing.

The sale or lease of surplus City-owned parking lots for a nominal price to not-for-profit housing corporations for affordable housing development is a tool available to municipalities and an identified action in the HSIR. The City and community partners can then use this land asset to leverage federal and provincial housing investments.

To bring focus and urgency to the housing crisis in our city, Hamilton City Council launched the Housing Sustainability and Investment Roadmap (HSIR) in 2023.

The HSIR is intended to be a “whole of community” response, with the City of Hamilton partnering with community organizations that bring different strengths, experiences, needs and resources to the housing table.  Although HSIR is an excellent step in bringing local resources together, ultimate success requires a fully engaged and committed federal and provincial government.

This Ward 1 update is to provide residents with the first annual update on the HSIR and the Housing Secretariat.

“Why are we seeing such a dramatic increase in the number of people living in encampments?”

Whether you drive, ride a bike or just cross a street, you’ll have noticed that roads in the older city are falling apart.  This Ward 1 letter will focus on some of the factors that have collided to create this bumpy ride.