By: Pam Wright, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Chatham Voice
The way Chatham-Kent handles homelessness problems may be going under the microscope.
At the Jan. 26 meeting, council voted 10-5 in favour of a motion from Chatham Coun. Michael Bondy directing staff to prepare request-for-proposal terms to hire a consultant to evaluate the municipality’s current encampment response and the tiny cabin transitional housing project.
According to Bondy “neutral eyeballs” are needed to get an accurate picture of the problem.
“Frankly, I don’t think we know what we are doing,” Bondy told council, adding the local homelessness crisis was like a “grenade” went off during the pandemic.
“We’re doing our best, but we have R.O.C.K. Missions, Hope Haven and the municipality…5,000 opinions on what we should do,” Bondy said in his comments.
“Chatham-Kent’s not a very big place. A lot of people know each other, there’s a lot of egos in play…there’s a lot of preconceived notions of who people are and what they do,” he explained.
Bondy said he got the idea of probing the local homelessness response after attending a national conference on homelessness last fall, adding he isn’t casting blame on local people working on the issue.
He said he wanted to see an outside source make recommendations based on best practices in other municipalities.
North Kent Coun. Rhonda Jubenville, who seconded the motion, said she thinks it is important to explore all the options to “mitigate the effects of homelessness.”
But others didn’t see it that way.
In response to a question from South Kent Coun. Anthony Ceccacci asking if a new report is necessary, chief administrative officer Michael Duben stated that municipal staff have experience dealing with the issue, noting homelessness in Chatham-Kent is nothing new.
“Certainly, our view is that we have experience with it,” Duben said. “I realize that, to councillor Bondy’s point, the public encampments have made people much more aware of the homelessness problem in Chatham-Kent, but it’s existed for quite some time. “
Chatham-Kent has access to plenty of information on the subject from across Ontario, Duben explained, such as the latest studies from agencies like the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.
The issue of paying for outside consultants also came into play during the discussion, with Chatham Coun. Brock McGregor stating the municipality gets a “fair bit” of public criticism for outsourcing work.
“It’s clear we have really significant expertise in this area in-house,” McGregor said. “It’s important to recognize we’ve had a lot of really challenging work done in the past and some innovative work as well.
“But if we see that this report tells us we need to do more of what you’re (Chatham-Kent) already doing or not willing to do, are we going to do it?” he asked, noting expensive housing and low social supports from senior levels of government continue to fuel the homelessness problem.
“There’s not enough resources so I don’t know how different the solution is going to be,” McGregor added, noting the “systemic underpinnings” of homelessness are not going to change and there’s no “magic bullet.”
Wallaceburg Coun. Aaron Hall also weighed in, recommending that council postpone a decision on the report pending the creation of the new Encampment Advisory Committee that’s in the works.
Chatham-Kent’s homelessness issue ignited last summer when the encampment in downtown Chatham relocated to the grounds of the water treatment plant on Grand Avenue East.
If approved in the future, the total budget for the consultant’s report would be $55,000.
