City Funding for Encampment Outreach and 88 Shelter Beds IS POOISED TO Continue, But More Than $ 600,000 in Funding for Homeless Drop-in Services at One London Agency is in Jeopardy after a tie voting worldly at a city council commtite.
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Nearly $ 3.6 Million in Funding was endorsed by the Community and Protective Services Committee for Ark Aid Street Mission to Continue Operating ITS 70 Shelter Beds at 430 William St. and for 18 Additional Shelter Beds for Women at the Salvation Army’s Center of Hope through 2026.
Aim $ 610.577 in Funding for Drop-in Services Such As Laundry, Showers and Meals at Ark Aid’s Old East Village Building At 696 Dundas St. Was Quashed on 2-2 tie voting, Causing Dismay for the Shelter Agency’s Lead.
“No Funding Means that of Those People Will Need to Be Served Outside on the Streets of London,” Executive Director Sarah Campbell Told Reporters after the meeting. “They will have to meet their ows in those places. I’m very concerned about the implications.”
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Councilors Jerry Pribil and Peter Cuddy Voting Against Funding The Drop-In Services, While Hadleigh MCALISTER and SAM TROSOW VOTE to support them. Coun. David Ferreira Had Left The Meeting For An Emergency.
The proposed Funding for Services Had Already Been Reduced from $ 1.1 million, After Council Ordered City Staff to Search for Overnight Beds the Money Could Be Used for, Leading to the 18 Additional Beds at the Center of Hope.
HAVING that Money Cut Already Meant Ark Aid WOULD HAVE TO RADUCE ITS HOURS, but now may be only limited help, campbell said.
“A place like the ark and many other services in our community are places people know they can coe and get a hand. This decision means there is that that door,” she said.
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A Previous Decision of Council Barring City Money from Going to Resting Spaces from the Main Street of A Business District also Means that of Ark Aid’s Fundraising dollars are tied up in keeping 30 beds open at 696 Dundas St.
Both Cuddy and Pribil Did not elaborate on their votes, with Pribil only saying he wished to conduct more consultations.
Before the vote, MCALISTER, The Acting Chair, TOLD THE COMMITTEE HE WAS HAPPY TO SEE The 18 New Beds and also supportive of Ark Aid’s Services.
“I Don’t Want to Cut Off Services Entiirely Becuse there are Still People who are accessing them, they need them,” He Said, also Referencing A Coffee House in His Ward Operated by the Canadian Mental Health Association that Provides Similar Services.
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Encomplement Outreach Gets A Nod
Though drop-in services for the city’s homeless are up in the air, politicians gave their endorsment to a combined $ 1.2 million in funding for the overall frame, also through March 2026.
Cuddy, Pribil, Trosow and McALIST Voted to Support the Funding for Items Such As Water, Meals and Portable Washrooms. The Services WOULD BE DELIVERED THOURGH A MOBILE DEPOT INSTEAD DE REGULAR DEPOTS AT WATSON Street Park, Near Wellington Road and South Street, and Evergreen Park Near Horton and Wharncliffe Streets.
The Change Was Order by City Council, with East End Councillors Including MCALIST Opposed to have MOST DEPOTS IN EAST LONDON.
“We do not have Enough Spaces for People to go, and I Absolutely do Think we need to be Providing Some Basic Services,” He Said Monday. “Having (The Depot) Move Around Based on Data is important.”
City Council Will have the Final Say for Funding for the Shelter Spaces, Drop-In Services and Correment Outreach at a meeting April 1.
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