McKenney/Leiper statement on tent city

As the Councillors for Kitchissippi and Somerset wards we represent the residents who are residing in tents behind Bayview Station.

We continue to be closely involved in securing affordable housing options for those residents who lost their housing to a fire in April and have asked City housing staff to work directly with those residents to get an understanding of their needs.

We also agree that remaining in their immediate community is important for their physical and mental health, and to that end we are committed to working with the remaining residents who do not have housing to help them locate housing in the community they are an important part of today. To date, we have secured permanent housing for most and continue to work to find temporary shelter for those who do not yet have permanent housing. 

This is a difficult time in the city. There are over 1100 people who are sleeping in shelters every night, another approximately 92 who are sleeping outside, 19,000 households who are spending over 50% of their income on rent, 900 families living in our family shelters and motels, and hundreds of women and children fleeing domestic abuse who are couch surfing and staying in often dangerous conditions. We need help from all levels of government if we are going to tackle this housing emergency. The difficult reality is that the ability to secure shelter in motels in one neighbourhood are exceptionally difficult.