City council has supported the latest version of London’s Winter Response to Homelessness, but tensions resurfaced during the debate about the location of a temporary shelter that will be operated by Ark Aid Street Mission. The updated plan will see homeless shelters open a total of 235 overnight spaces every night between Dec. 1, 2026, and March 31, 2027, plus an additional 29 overnight spaces when temperatures drop below -15C or -20 windchill. Most of the spaces will be within existing shelters, but Ark Aid Street Mission is looking to secure a yet-to-be-determined location for 40 spaces that would operate nightly from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. Concerned about the clustering of frontline agencies in the Old East Village (OEV) BIA, Coun. Susan Stevenson proposed requiring council approval of the location before it receives municipal funding. “To say that there are no other locations [but the main street of core area BIAs] is counter to our whole objective of 12 to 15 [homeless] hubs around the city,” she asserted. Coun. Hadleigh McAlister expressed similar concern about the Hamilton Road BIA in his ward, “We need to recognize that we have repeatedly asked two areas of the city to shoulder the responsibility and that is grossly unfair.” Downtown London Coun. David Ferreira acknowledged, “I understand the capacity that we have is really within these [core] areas, however, I also see that there is a reality that we do have service providers within a small area.” Stevenson pressed staff about a previous council decision not to fund shelter spaces on the main streets of BIAs, but council supported a “not withstanding” amendment essentially exempting this decision from the previous restriction. Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis rejected the notion that council continues to cluster frontline services for homeless Londoners in OEV, Downtown London, and along Hamilton Road. “The core is not the only location where we have homelessness services,” Lewis stated. “On Clarke Road in the east end I have the YOU (Youth Opportunities Unlimited) youth shelter. I also have the Anova Women’s Shelter. South of [Highway] 401 is where we put the micro-modular shelter.” The deputy mayor emphasized that The Ark and Unity Project own their buildings on Dundas Street in the OEV BIA and receive private donations to fund some of their operations. “So if you want to talk about moving them, then you better talk about a multi-year budget business plan for property acquisition, to then do land swaps with them, because that is what you’re talking about,” he added.
