Community Services Committee

Minutes

Meeting #:

3

Date:

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Time:

9:30 A.m. - 10:30 A.m.

Location:

Champlain Room, 110 Laurier Avenue West, and by electronic participation

Present:

• Chair Laura Dudas, 
• Vice-Chair Jessica Bradley, 
• Councillor David Brown, 
• Councillor Marty Carr, 
• Councillor Steve Desroches, 
• Councillor David Hill, 
• Councillor Theresa Kavanagh, 
• Councillor Rawlson King, 
• Councillor Wilson Lo, 
• Councillor Stéphanie Plante, 
• and Councillor Ariel Troster 

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1.

Notices and meeting information for meeting participants and the public

Notices and meeting information are attached to the agenda and minutes, including: availability of simultaneous interpretation and accessibility accommodations; in camera meeting procedures; information items not subject to discussion; personal information disclaimer for correspondents and public speakers; notices regarding minutes; and hybrid participation details.

Accessible formats and communication supports are available, upon request.

Except where otherwise indicated, reports requiring Council consideration will be presented to Council on Wednesday, June 14, 2023 in Community Services Committee Report 3A.

The deadline to register by phone to speak, or submit written comments or visual presentations is 4 pm on Friday, May 19, 2023, and the deadline to register to speak by email is 8:30 am on Tuesday May 23, 2023.

2.

Declarations of Interest

No Declarations of Interest were filed.

3.

Confirmation of Minutes

3.1

CSC Minutes 2 – Tuesday, March 28, 2023

• Carried

4.

Responses to Inquiries

4.1

CSC-2023-02 – Summer programming at Park and Rides

5.

Community and Social Services Department

5.1

Update to Local Rules under the Housing Services Act, 2011

File No. ACS2023-CSS-GEN-004 – City-wide

Clara Freire, General Manager, Community and Social Services Department, and Paul Lavigne, Director, Housing answered questions from Committee.

There were no public submissions to Committee on this item.

Following discussions, the Committee considered the report recommendation.

• Report recommendation

  That the Community Services Committee recommend Council approve the Local Rules, as updated and set out in full in Document 1.

  Carried

5.2

Homelessness Prevention Program Investment Plan 2023-2024

File No. ACS2023-CSS-GEN-007 - City-wide

Clara Freire, General Manager, Community and Social Services Department, and Paul Lavigne, Director, Housing, answered questions from Committee.

There were no public submissions to Committee on this item.

Following discussions, the Committee considered the report recommendations.

• Report recommendations

  That Community Service Committee recommends Council approve:

  1. That the Director, Housing Services, be delegated the authority to approve the City’s Homelessness Prevention Program (HPP) 2023-2024 Investment Plan, which sets out the details of the program and spending plan outlined in this report and to submit it to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing;
  2. That in the event additional funding becomes available under the Homelessness Prevention Program due to any reallocation by the Ministry, the Director, Housing Services, be delegated authority to amend the Investment Plan and allocate the additional funding within the HPP service categories, in keeping with this report;
  3. The consolidation of the City-funded Housing and Homelessness Investment Plan (HHIP), Supports in Social Housing Program (SSH), and other homelessness funds into a single “City Homelessness Funding” program that follows the guidelines of the provincial Homelessness Prevention Program, as well as any applicable City policies, programs, and objectives approved by council, as further outlined in this report; and
  4. Suspending the notice required under Subsections 29(3) and 34(1) of the Procedure By-law to consider this report at its meeting on May 24, 2023 in order to consider the matter within the provincial timeline.
  Carried

6.

Office of the City Clerk

6.1

Status Update – Community Services Committee Inquiries and Motions for the period ending May 9, 2023

File No. ACS2023-OCC-CCS-0069 - City-wide

• Report recommendation

  That the Community Services Committee receive this report for information.

  Received

7.

In Camera Items

There were no in camera items.

8.

Notices of Motions (For Consideration at Subsequent Meeting)

There were no Notices of Motion.

9.

Inquiries

9.1

CSC-2023-03 – Physical Distancing Centre Reporting

Submitted by Councillor S. Plante:

Physical Distancing Centres (PDCs) have been used across the city since 2020, with the most concentrated impacts in Ward 18 and Ward 12. A motion requesting a report on the transition out of PDCs passed committee on February 28, 2023, and council on March 8, 2023. The motion requested a report in Q2 2023 (Q2 ending in June 2023) to Council. Last week, my office learned that this report has been pushed to June. It is unclear as to why this decision was made. In the same week both councillors for Ward 12 and 18 received community groups who use Dempsey Community Centre and Bernard Grandmaître Arena who wish to use the community center and arena in the fall of 2023. As such this inquiry is requesting that the following questions regarding this report be answered by Community and Social Services.

Why was the report pushed back from the May 23 Community Services Committee meeting to June 27, when the PDC transition is meant to occur no later than the end of August?

How will the transition be impacted? What is the communications strategy to inform community groups, community members, and PDC residents of these impacts?

To whom was the reasoning for this delay communicated?

How many residents have been occupying Heron Road, Bernard-Grandmaître, and Dempsey since the move from Jim Durrell and the Jailhostel in spring 2023 (total capacity and total occupancy by month)? How many of those residents were successfully rehoused?

What has been the cost of operating PDCs in 2023 to date? What is the projected cost for the 2023 fiscal year?

What is the cost to rehouse the number of individuals currently in the PDCs? Has increasing staffing to this end been considered?

9.2

CSC-2023-04 – Shelter System Data

Submitted by Councillor M. Carr:

Over the past year, staff have worked to re-structure the reporting methods and the system for compiling data from all the funded community agencies and City operations to successfully meet the province’s requirements. Housing Services initiatives have been focused on building a more robust dataset for the housing and homelessness sector that will support data-led decision making. Both the federal and provincial funding programs, which together make up over three quarters of the City’s homelessness funding, prioritize flexibility, system coordination, and data-informed approaches. The alignment between these funding programs is essential for the City’s shift towards building an integrated systems approach with a common decision-making process and goals.

As such access to information and a solid understanding of the department’s data is crucial for staff, councillors, and the public to understand and address the city’s response to the ongoing housing and homelessness emergency. The following clarifications are requested to assist in understanding this.

The terms family unit, family members, households and household members have all been used to describe family shelter use. Please provide the definitions for these terms and the distinctions between them and clarify their use.

What is the total capacity and occupancy across the shelter system?

In addition to the total capacity and occupancy, please present this data at the individual service provider level including the following pieces of data:

• Capacity and occupancy of shelters
• Capacity and occupancy of PDCs
• Capacity and occupancy of hotels/motels
• Capacity and occupancy of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada spaces in hotels
• Capacity and occupancy of youth beds in the shelter system
• Capacity and occupancy of womens’ beds in the shelter system
• Capacity and occupancy of mens’ beds in the shelter system
• Capacity and occupancy of remaining beds not captured in the previous 3 categories in the shelter system

Beyond the shelter system there are residents sleeping rough. In response to this inquiry please provide the estimate of residents sleeping rough.

10.

Other Business

There was no other business.

11.

Adjournment

Next Meeting: June 27, 2023

The meeting adjourned at 11:08 am.