Issues related to emergency and affordable housing were among the main topics Tuesday, as Chatham-Kent councilors completed their second night of budget deliberations.
Staff provided an update on Victoria Park Place, the shelter which opened last June on Murray Street in Chatham.
A total of $1.9 million is being transferred from reserves for the shelter. Much of that cost will go towards temporary staffing for 16 full-time equivalency positions, including shelter leads and support workers, with some of these positions part-time or casual.
“This is not base (funding),” April Rietdyk, general manager of community human services, said.
She said the municipality only has the shelter location for three years in total, noting the aim is to return to the way things were pre-pandemic.
“The more people we can move from emergency housing into full, permanent housing, the fewer people we have in emergency housing,” she said.
“We need affordable housing, we need supportive housing.”
Rietdyk added that staff will bring forward a report on what the plan will be moving ahead.
Polly Smith, director of employment and social services, said the municipality is currently providing emergency housing to 66 individuals, with motel rooms also used in some cases.
“We’ve had a lot of success with placing people each month, particularly with private landlords,” she said. “And very low return to homelessness. But that can only take us so far.”
Also on Tuesday, councilors approved a number of motions to add items to the budget, from a list that staff didn’t recommend at this time due to the challenging financial conditions this year.
This included allocating an additional $130,000 to the affordable housing reserve, as well as $38,000 to upgrade WiFi service at Riverview Gardens to meet staffing and IT needs.
With the changes, the proposed tax hike increased from 5.58 per cent to 5.61 per cent.
After Tuesday’s deliberations, council went into a scheduled closed session to deal with in-camera matters.
The budget process resumes Wednesday at 6 pm in council chambers, with Thursday set aside if needed. The meetings will also be live-streamed.
Deputations will be heard and deliberations on the operating budget will begin. After the break during Tuesday’s meeting, at approximately 8:30 pm, council will go into a closed session.
Written deputations as long as five minutes in length are welcome each evening but must be emailed before 3 pm the day of the meeting to [email protected].
Questions and comments can also be made by mail: Budget & Performance Services, Municipality of Chatham-Kent, 315 King St. W., PO Box 640, Chatham, Ont., N7M 5K8; by phone at 519-360-1998; or online at www.letstalkchatham-kent.ca/budget2023?tool=qanda#tool_tab.
Municipal budget details can be found at www.chatham-kent.ca/localgovernment/budget/Pages/Our-Municipal-Budgets.aspx.
This story will be updated.