City Coun. Susan Stevenson held a townhall meeting Wednesday night, calling it a discussion about funding issues coming before council next week.
About 100 people turned out for the meeting where she made a PowerPoint presentation on a number of issues, including funding for ark aid, and other outreach programs in the city.
“There’s, a lot of funding for homeless services that will go until next March or to the end of this year. So, there’s $600,000 for day spaces at Ark Aid on Dundas Street, which is something that we’ve discussed, and council has said ‘not on the main street of a BIA.’ It failed at committee and so, it’s something that’s coming forward,” said Stevenson.
Among those in attendance at the meeting, Sarah Campbell executive director at Ark Aid Street Mission, who said she acknowledges the challenges, but wanted to make sure she was present to ensure balanced messaging.
“Understanding where it is that funding is coming from. What is the decision in front of council? Why should we insure having these daytime spaces? You know, when those daytime spaces close, there will not be one open door in our community that is 24 hours a day, seven days a week for people to drop in and get care,” Campbell explained.
After her presentation, Stevenson opened the floor up for questions and comments and heard, “London east is not a dumping ground for druggies and prostitutes in the city,” as well as, “I would say that 90 per cent of the people that live in the buildings by McCormick Park are scared to death to walk out there.”
Members of various outreach services were also in attendance, in hopes of supporting the people they work with on a daily basis.
Marc Henderson said, “Nobody wants to be unhoused, and a lot of the drug use that is experienced at street level, a lot of it is situational. As someone who lives a life of sobriety, I’m not the common denominator of folks out there using. I used to the point I burned my life down. But a lot of the people that are using it street level, they use because of their situation.”
Stevenson said the meeting was an open conversation, an opportunity for people to speak out about what they want to see happening in their city.
