London Mayor Josh Morgan’s exercise of strong mayor powers to sanction 60 new shelter units has kept council in the dark, says Ward 4 Coun. Susan Stevenson.
“Council has no idea of this at all, just what the public knows concerning the strong mayor announcement,” Stevenson said. “It’s actually a concern to me as well that, as a council, we have not been brought into this.”
She said that councillors had previously been left out of the homelessness response debate, so one can ask questions about transparency.” We get these proposals, and we have nothing to do with the discussion of them,” she said. “I think there are some very important issues about this in terms of funding, in terms of where it will be, in terms of whether there will be low barriers or perhaps a possibility of sober people living.”
We certainly need a safe haven for individuals,” Stevenson said. “I hope there will be a sober facility within our city.
This topic of discussion could likely be at an upcoming city council meeting on Oct. 8.
