Local officials and others left this week’s housing symposium with a renewed sense of optimism, at least when it comes to finding ways to addressing the growing issue of homelessness in Guelph and Wellington County.
“We feel the symposium was a great success in setting the foundation towards the development and implementation of a new health and housing community plan,” Luisa Artuso, social services administrator for the County of Wellington, said in an email. “We received very positive informal feedback from many participants.”
The invitation-only symposium, which was hosted by county officials Tuesday and Wednesday in Guelph, saw about 100 elected officials, municipal staff, representatives from key service providers and people with lived experience attend.
It included facilitated discussions, break-out sessions and more meant to help participants understand the issues faced by residents experiencing homelessness as well as one another, and gather ideas about what actions can be taken to address the crisis.
“I really believe the county pulled people together in a way that I’ve actually never seen before. There was a lot of authenticity in the room and a lot of great ideas,” said Mayor Cam Guthrie, explaining the authenticity came through for him in a few ways – county officials expressed a willingness to be open to needed changes, a desire to share ideas and resources (when possible), and hearing from people with lived homeless experience.
He believes that authenticity “bodes well for what comes next.”
A symposium follow-up report, including next steps, is expected to be presented to the county’s social services committee in March.
Artuso said another event, featuring community engagement, is tentatively set for April 9.
“Given the complexity and impact of the health and housing crisis, the health and housing community plan, as with all plans, must include meaningful community engagement,” the administrator explained. “Community engagement is a core aspect of the impact assessment and implementation process. The level of accomplishments for our community is dependent on the voice and help of many.”
County warden Andy Lennox said hearing from people with lived homelessness experience helped him understand how people fall through the cracks of the system.
For example, someone with a substance use disorder who gets clean can’t find housing after treatment and ends up back on the streets where they associate with the same people they did before or someone who has spent time in prison has nowhere to go when they’re released.
“There’s people that are not transitioning well through various aspects of our society and getting caught up and ending up homeless again,” Lennox said.
Politicians aren’t the only ones who left the symposium feeling optimistic that solutions to the housing and homelessness crisis will flow from it.
Jason Schwartzentruber, who attended as a community member with lived experience, said the event saw “a lot of good ideas” put forward. He’s looking forward to seeing what recommended actions county staff ultimately put forward.
“We did have a lot of good discussions,” Schwartzentruber said, explaining he took part in group discussions, asked and answered questions, and generally provided input.
“From my perspective, it was very helpful to see the genuine concern from the higher-ups, whether at the county or each group that was invited,” he continued. “I am optimistic about it, as long as they don’t just do the same old, same old.”
Though pleased an action plan is being developed, with public input factored into recommendations to be put forward, Guthrie doesn’t believe the situation can wait and may press forward with the idea of establishing a designated area for built structures, such as tiny homes, with access to electricity, water, coordinated social services, waste collection and more.
He first brought up the idea last fall, but decided to wait for it to be discussed at the symposium before officially taking it to council for consideration.
“I believe something sooner needs to happen,” he said, noting he’s “apprehensive to jump” on the concept without having commitments from other levels of government and/or service agencies that would need to be involved. “I don’t want to have a knee-jerk reaction to something without making sure that all of the puzzle pieces are together so that whatever initiative is done is going to work.
“But reasonable approaches to a crisis shouldn’t take very long,” he added, noting the tiny homes concept was discussed “quite a lot” during the symposium. “My commitment is to try to address these issues quicker than April on this particular topic.”
- with files from Keegan Kozolanka, EloraFergusToday
