Could ‘quick communities’ better aid London’s 1,900 homeless citizens?

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A pair of London city councillors want city hall staff to look into “quick communities” to ease the homelessness crisis.

Everything from quickly built portable sleeping structures to tiny homes should be examined to ensure London is doing everything it can to provide shelter and housing, Ward 11 Coun. Skylar Franke said.

“We want to make sure we don’t miss any housing opportunity. We don’t want to limit what staff can come back with,” she said.

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She and Ward 5 Coun. Jerry Pribil have filed a motion for next week’s meeting of council’s strategic priorities and policy committee asking city staff to investigate the feasibility of creating small communities with a range of possible shelters.

If the idea is approved by politicians, city staff would:

• investigate the available land or facilities that could accommodate a quick housing community, perhaps aligned with a 24/7 homeless hub offering medical care and housing counselling
• evaluate zoning and land use for the proposed locations
• consult with social service organizations about the idea
• report back by March 2025 with recommendations on viable locations, potential costs, sources of funding and timelines for implementation.

London’s official count put the number of homeless people as the end of September at 1,935, with 182 having no shelter at all – though city officials and organizations say those counts are lower than the reality.

A new homeless and health care strategy is moving slowly, and winter is coming without an increase in the number of shelter beds already being used in the city.

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Meanwhile, Londoners are asking why their city can’t develop tiny homes like St. Thomas and Kitchener are, Franke said.

“We haven’t really explored it so far. Maybe there is no feasible location in London but we should explore it to make sure,” she said.

Unity Project shelter and a homeless hub operated by Atlohsa Family Healing Services both operate pre-fab small shelters clustered near a main service building, Franke pointed out.

“We want staff to go to the community and have some conversations,” she said. “Are there agencies willing to add these to their existing facilities or do we need to find municipally owned private lands?”

This isn’t the first time Londoners have tried to get city support for tiny homes and quickly built shelters.

Developer and philanthropist Andy Spriet designed and built four portable shelters in 2021 and offered them to Ark Aid Street Mission.

“It just kind of fizzled out,” he said Thursday. “It didn’t fit the city’s pattern.”

Ark Aid used the shelters but ran into roadblocks over zoning from city hall to use them continuously, the organization’s executive director, Sarah Campbell, said.

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Politicians need more information about zoning and finances before making any moves on the quick communities, Franke said.

“We don’t want to waste money. If the amount of servicing required is the same as if we could build an apartment building at that location, obviously the better use of space would be something that has more units,” she said.

“But if there are locations where we can add 10, 20 of these and it’s not cost prohibitive and we can do it quickly, that’s what’s we’re really looking for,” Franke said. “We wouldn’t want to oversaturate an area.”

Quick communities could ease the pressures on London’s homeless encampments, she added.

A staff report also heading to politicians next week outlines increasing demands for help with encampments.

City staff is recommending $141,400 be spent to fund basic needs for encampment dwellers until year’s end and as much as $2.3 million to fund an encampment plan for all of next year.

Staff is also asking for direction on where new encampment depots should be placed. Those depots provide washrooms for encampment dwellers and a central spot for distribution of basic needs like food and water.

rrichmond@postmedia.com

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