At an emotional meeting this week, some city councilors shared their personal stories before unanimously supporting a proposal to create a community hub that would house local health and social services providers under one roof.
Leading a group of 10 providers is Leslie Josling, executive director of Willowbridge Community Services, which provides programs to those with developmental disabilities from its Brant Avenue location.
Josling came to council’s operations committee with a request, introduced through a resolution by Coun. Joshua Wall, for city staff to investigate the potential to use the eastern portion of the downtown parkade and surrounding area as a possible location for the hub.
Ten agencies, including Willowbridge, are behind the project. The estimated cost of a 171,000-square-foot hub is $87 million.
Besides Willowbridge, other agencies that would be part of the hub are Grand River Community Health Centre, Brant Community Healthcare System, Community Living Brant, Woodview Mental Health and Autism Services, Canadian Mental Health Association – Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk, St. Leonard’s Community Services, The Bridge Brant, Friends 4 Kindness, and Helping Ourselves through Peer Support and Employment.
“We share an urgent, critical need for new space,” Josling told councilors, adding that many services are working from “outdated and cramped” spaces all over the city with high lease and overhead costs.
Josling said they have spent two years looking for a suitable site in the city.
Paul Sapounzi, managing partner at +VG Architects, presented to councilors a slide show with models of the proposed hub. He said building on the east side of the parkade, at Icomm Drive and Clarence Street, will bring life to a prominent but underused corner of the city.
Josling said residents, many without their own transportation, now must travel all over the city to access needed services. She said the hub would serve about 27,0000 community members annually and employ about 800 people.
“It would be a game-changer,” said Lisa Foster, who has a son with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. “All the experts would be under one roof.”
Wall said creating a hub is possible but won’t be easy.
“We need this so bad,” he said with his voice cracking. “Mental health is still so stigmatized. In my darkest days as a child, St. Leonard’s saved my life.”
An emotional Coun. Jan Vanderstelt said a full-service hub like that being proposed saved his life.
“I’m living proof that when you take care of people who somehow didn’t matter, you build community leaders. One-stop shopping works because everything is there. This is crucial. It’s about time. It makes sense.”
Mayor Kevin Davis said he’s heard from many residents about how disjointed mental-health services are in Brantford and “that difficulty means some people give up.”
count. Dan McCreary said the plan makes economic sense because agencies with limited budgets could share resources and not have to be “worried about keeping the lights on.”
Noting that “$87 million is an awful lot of money,” Coun. John Sless said the hub will require widespread support.
“You need buy-in from the entire community. I think that’s exactly what it would get. Everyone knows someone touched by a mental-health issue.”
Josling said about 75 per cent of hub’s cost could potentially be covered by funding from the federal and provincial governments. Another $21 million would come from commercial mortgage or other financing, and a capital fundraising campaign could bring in at least $2.5 million.
She said all the hub partners currently pay at least $1 million a year in costs for their current buildings.