Draft Plan for the Tiny Shelters Pilot Coming in September
The Hamilton Alliance for Tiny Shelters (HATS) will be holding a meeting on September 11 at the Bennetto Community Centre located at 450 Hughson Street North from 7:00pm to 9:00pm to present the draft plan for their pilot on Strachan Street East.
The draft plan will include information about the pilot so residents can provide feedback on the plan before it’s finalized in time to get things set up for winter.
The format of the meeting will be an open house from 7:00pm to 8:00pm followed by a moderated discussion led by the City from 8:00pm to 9:00pm with an opportunity for questions of City staff and the HATS team.
The open house will give residents the opportunity to walk around and look at displays, posters, visuals, and a video rendering. It will be broken up into different areas detailing the look and feel of the site, operational breakdown and funding, community collaboration, programming offered, medical and other wraparound supports, and site standards.
HATS will be using feedback provided through the open house in order to improve their draft plan before it’s finalized and implemented.
The moderated discussion will respond to some of the frequently asked questions from residents about the site selection criteria and process used by City staff.
HATS will announce the date, time, and location of their next session to go over the feedback they’ve received and talk about the final site plan that they will develop in collaboration with City staff.
This is an important opportunity to provide feedback on this pilot before it’s set up this winter. I hope to see you there!
First Round of Ward 2 Community Grants Approved
On August 18, City Council approved the first round of the new Ward 2 Community Grants program. The Ward 2 Team is already reaching out to those organizations whose applications were successful. I’ll also be announcing additional grant allocations in September to ensure all eligible applicant receive their grants before the end of Q3.
To get a sense of the organizations and groups that were successful in the first round of granting you can either read through the motion to Council or the information below -
Art Gallery of Hamilton - $5,000
Cobalt Connects - $5,000
Corktown Neighbourhood Association - $4,500
gritLIT Literary Festival - $5,000
Hamilton Arts Council - $4,000
Hamilton Community Land Trust - $4,500
Hamilton Community Peregrine Project - $4,500
Hamilton Festival Theatre Company - $4,500
Hamilton Music Collective - $4,500
International Village Business Improvement Area (BIA) - $1,050
Mission Services - $1,000
Musicata – Hamilton’s Voices - $1,650
North End Breezes - $4,500
North End Neighbourhood Association - $825
Sexual Assault Centre Hamilton and Area (SACHA) - $5,000
speqtrum Hamilton - $5,000
Sprout Organization - $5,000
Theatre Aquarius - $5,000
Welcome Inn Community Centre - $5,000
For more information about the specific allocations for each grant, look at the Motion approved by Council on August 18.
The next round of intake for Community Grants will be in early September for expenses incurred in Q4 of 2023 (from October 1 to December 31). If you’re a not for profit group or organization in Ward 2 that’s interested in applying, please visit the Community Grants page on the Ward 2 website to learn more.
The goal of this program is to ensure that the $100,000 in annual discretionary area rating funding allocated to Ward 2 is distributed throughout the community as broadly as possible over this term of Council. As this is the first year of any program like this at the City, much of the work the Ward 2 Team is doing is breaking new ground, which means we’ll be evaluating the process to identify enhancements for the next round, as well as potential expansions of the program.
Listening and Responding to the Needs of Ward 2 Tenants
Though many don’t know this, the majority of residents in Ward 2 are tenants. In fact, according to the 2016 census data analyzed by the City, 76.4% of those living in Ward 2 (versus 32.4% citywide) either rent a unit in an apartment, condo building, or house.
That same data shows that 59.4% (versus 15.9% citywide) of all dwellings in Ward 2 are in 5+ storey apartment buildings. The Durand neighbourhood, where I live, has the highest concentration of renters followed by Corktown, Central, Beasley, the North End, and Stinson.
Since I was elected, the Ward 2 Team and I have been visiting every CityHousing building (CHH) in Ward 2. As of this summer, we’ve made it to more than half. The goal is to visit every CHH building by the end of 2023 to hold tenant meetings to connect with residents, hear about their experiences, and record their feedback.
It’s important to get feedback directly from tenants, across the affordability spectrum, about their experiences to ensure City staff and City Council are better able to respond to their needs.
Council has started that work by directing City staff to prepare a new adequate temperature bylaw to ensure that extreme heat is mitigated in rental units. Staff have also developed a number of tools to prevent landlords from using renovations to permanently evict tenants (a process commonly called renoviction). We’re also putting almost 500 CHH units in disrepair back in service. Progress is being made, but we still have a long way to go.
When I was knocking on doors in apartment buildings during the campaign, the number one thing I heard from tenants was they felt trapped because they have few options to move. That feedback has come through loud and clear in CHH buildings as well.
Tenants have told me there used to be much more mobility in the rental housing market and if they wanted or needed to move because of specific issues, they could.
But because of steeply rising rents, which have doubled and tripled over the last decade, that’s no longer the case. For CHH tenants especially, because of the number of units that have been taken off of the market due to disrepair, the ability to transfer between buildings has been greatly reduced.
It resulted in tenants across the city having to suffer through serious issues like mold, pests, water leaks, broken elevators, lack of heating and cooling, no hot water, and even threats and harassment from neighbours and landlords. A fear of speaking out, in the event that it gets them evicted, has forced many tenants to endure substandard living conditions and suffer in silence.
In 2024, I plan to invite tenants, including CHH residents, to City Hall to review the feedback I’ve received and kick off a new Ward 2 Tenant Council with the goal of inviting residents to be part of implementing bold new municipal housing policies while we wait for further legislation and better regulation from the Provincial and Federal governments.
Website Feature - City Notices
The Ward 2 website includes a section entitled City Notices. Not only does it include information about sidewalk, lane, and road closures, it also details a number of other notices sent to my office by City staff including -
Noise Exemption Permits
Location Filming Permits
Sewer Main Lining
Demolition Permits
Encroachment Applications
Watermain Breaks
Transit Notices
Special Events Permits
Formal Consultation
Site Plan Applications
We update the page frequently, when we’re notified by City staff, and are currently working on the process of being able to provide direct links to internal City documents that provide more information and transparency and to post more special event permits, formal consultations, and site plan applications.
City staff in the Planning and Economic Development Department are working with their colleagues in the Records Division to determine what information must be kept confidential under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Once their review is completed, likely later this year, I’ll provide an update and hopefully we’ll be able to add direct links to the City’s internal documentation for each notice.
Upcoming Committee and Council Decisions
This section itemizes important upcoming Committee and Council decisions in case you wish to delegate, watch a meeting live, or send in correspondence to the office of the City Clerk at clerk@hamilton.ca. They’re listed by Committee and date.
For other September Committee and Council Agendas and Meeting Notices, please subscribe to “Council & Committee” updates directly through the City’s website.
Planning Committee - Tuesday, September 5 - 9:30am
Proposed Provincial Planning Statement, 2023 - Natural Heritage Policies - PED23185
General Issues Committee - Wednesday, September 6 - 9:30am
Addressing Needs of Unsheltered Individuals and Those Relying on Hamilton's Emergency Shelter System - HSC23041
Family Shelter System - HSC23041(a)
Cost Recovery Municipal Act By-Laws for Development-Related Infrastructure Projects - FCS23056 / PED23170
Revitalizing Hamilton Tax Increment Grant - 41 Wilson Street - PED23055
Updates to the Commercial District Revitalization Grant Program Respecting Graffiti and Vandalism Supports for Commercial Properties and Businesses - PED23140
Audit, Finance and Administration Committee - Thursday, September 7 - 9:30am
Harassment and Discrimination Prevention Policy Recommendation - HUR23011
RZone Respectful Environments Policy - HUR23012
Voluntary Advisory Committee Review - CM23025
Emergency and Community Services Committee - Thursday, September 7 - 1:30pm
Annual Winter Response Strategy - HSC23012(a)
Public Health Committee - Friday, September 8 - 9:30am
Hamilton Waterpipe By-law - BOH23017(a)
Suspect Drug-Related Deaths and Opioid-Related Paramedic Calls (April-June 2023) - BOH23031
Public Works Committee - Friday, September 8 - 1:30pm
Burlington Street Sewage Spill Update - PW22088(b)
Procedural Changes Resulting from Chedoke Creek and Burlington Street Combined Sewage Discharge Incidents - PW23056
Free-Floating Carshare Program - PED20168(b)
Hamilton Water Financial Plan - PW23055
Upcoming Events and City Notices
For a list of City Notices directly impacting Ward 2, including encroachment applications, temporary road closures, and watermain repairs, visit our website.
Labour Day Parade and Picnic - September 4 - Parade at 10:30am from Stuart Street; Picnic at Bayfront Park from 11:30am to 2:30pm
Citywide Public Greenbelt Meeting - September 6 - Ancaster Memorial Arts Centre
Supercrawl - September 8-10 - James Street North
HATS Pilot Draft Plan Consultation - September 11 - Bennetto Community Centre, 450 Hughson Street North - Open house led by HATS from 7:00pm to 8:00pm followed by a moderated discussion led by the City from 8:00pm to 9:00pm with an opportunity for questions of City staff and the HATS team
Community Open House - Revisioning the Discovery Centre - September 12 - Discovery Centre
Ward 2 Neighbourhood Town Hall #4 - September 14 - Central Presbyterian Church - Doors open at 6:00pm for the Durand Neighbourhood Association Annual General Meeting and the Town Hall starts at 7:00pm
Durand Movie Night - September 16 - The Addams Family 2 - Durand Park
Updates from the Last Issue of the Ward 2 Newsletter
This section provides updates on things I wrote about in the last issue of the newsletter. The article names are the same, including links, so it’s easier to keep track of what’s new.
Sidewalk Repairs Coming to Ward 2 Neighbourhoods
The work to repair some of the sidewalks in Ward 2 will get underway in early September, with repairs on Bay Street in the Central, Durand, and North End neighbourhoods to start as early as September 7. As I said in the last edition of the newsletter, this work began in August (citywide) and repairs will take place in the Beasley, Central, Corktown, Durand, and North End neighbourhoods in Ward 2. The bulk of work on sidewalks in Ward 2 will take place in September so please expect sidewalk closures and other delays as this work is completed. If you have any concerns about this work, as it’s being completed, please reach out to the Ward 2 Team directly at Ward2@hamilton.ca.
Town Hall Engagement an Important Focus in June
The City’s new encampment protocol was released publicly on August 9. The biggest change is that the City is now able to help encampment residents move from sites that are not compliant with the protocol to those that are. For me, and many of my colleagues, this was an important question to answer. As one of my colleagues put it, we need to tell them not only where they cannot stay, but also where they can. The protocol is also beginning to address key issues during this crisis such as the need for public washrooms, showers, and waste management at compliant encampment sites. Council ratified the new protocol on August 18. It’s been about 10 business days since its ratification and City staff are working, as fast as they can across the City, to address site compliance issues and to help encampment residents relocate. If you have concerns, questions, or issues please reach out to the City’s Housing Division at unsheletered@hamilton.ca.