Ark Aid scores $3.7M in city funding — more than expected — following heated debate

Alessio Donnini · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 02, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

London City Council agreed to proceed funding Ark Aid's exigency structure and daytime drop-in spaces for different year, to the tune of astir $3.7 million, Tuesday night.

The determination came aft a sometimes heated statement arsenic to whether the Old East Village (OEV) structure should beryllium allowed to run its drop-in spaces on Dundas Street.

By the extremity of the lengthy debate, councillors voted successful favour of renewing Ark Aid's backing for different twelvemonth successful abstracted packages for 2 of its operations.

The archetypal portion of backing approved is $3,078,130 for the play of Apr. 1, 2025, to Mar. 31, 2026. That wealth would substance 70 exigency structure spaces astatine Ark Aid's 432 William St. location, and was approved astir unanimously.

The second — and by acold astir contentious — portion of funding, is $610,577 for the aforesaid play of clip to money daytime drop-in abstraction astatine the Ark Aid Street Mission astatine 696 Dundas St. It was approved successful an 11-3 vote.

Although the multi-million dollar exigency structure backing inquire was approved during the past gathering of the Community and Protective Services Committee, backing for the daytime spaces was changeable down astatine that aforesaid gathering successful March.

That drop-in abstraction funding was revived erstwhile Coun. David Ferreira asked his colleagues to see it contempt its removal from the committee report.

Concerns astir interaction connected Old East Village

The decision came despite councillors voting 9-to-6 past November to proclaim resting spaces — which are not drop-in spaces — should beryllium kept distant from the main drags of the city's concern betterment areas (BIAs) pursuing unit from residents and businesses who said services specified as Ark Aid pull transgression and different problems.

Tuesday's statement saw assembly members commercialized barbs. Coun. Susan Stevenson, whose ward encompasses Old East Village, plead with her colleagues to garbage to money the drop-in spaces.

"The lives of the radical connected our streets matter, but truthful bash the lives of the radical successful Old East Village," Stevenson said. "We are hurting them by utilizing payer dollars to proceed to money an bureau that is simply a magnet for radical who don't person a spot to be."

In Stevenson's eyes, drop-in spaces mean overflow into parking lots, sidewalks and businesses on with imaginable information concerns.

"Listen to me. Listen to the BIA. Please don't bash this," Stevenson pleaded.

Stevenson besides argued that the determination was not successful enactment with a push to halt centralizing homelessness and addictions enactment services downtown and successful eastbound London successful bid to dispersed the load much evenly crossed town.

On 1 hand, OEV businesses and the section BIA have reported experiences successful enactment with those mentioned by Stevenson connected Tuesday. 

On the different hand, businesses successful different parts of the metropolis precocious asked assembly to powerfully see backing the drop-in spaces to debar shifting the load elsewhere.

No different work to measurement in, McAlister says

Councillors successful favour of backing the drop-in spaces, meanwhile, said Ark Aid can't reasonably beryllium asked to determination the spaces connected specified abbreviated notice, and the alternate enactment of losing the spaces isn't an acceptable trade-off.

"I find it a spot reckless and inhumane due to the fact that fundamentally you're stopping service. There's nary alternate location," said Coun. Hadleigh McAlister. "Closing down a work with nary autumn back, I think, is precise dangerous. I deliberation it's going to astir apt harm the vicinity adjacent more. You don't conscionable adjacent the work and past magically each of this disappears."

Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis questioned whether concerns surrounding information and crowding are wholly attributable to Ark Aid.

"I deliberation that Ark Aid has done their precise champion to beryllium a amended neighbour. I person immoderate concerns astir ... others who deliberation they're helping that are not Ark Aid, on that thoroughfare handing retired food, handing retired different things and and attracting much problems," Lewis said.

Although assembly decided past twelvemonth to bounds the interaction resting spaces person by not allowing them connected main streets, there's a quality successful resting spaces and drop-in spaces, according to Kevin Dickins, deputy metropolis manager for societal and wellness development.

"When we look astatine a resting space, we're typically looking astatine a quiescent dedicated country wherever individuals tin spell and remainder and slumber temporarily," Dickins said.

"[Daytime drop-in is] more speedy random interaction points ... meals, showers, washrooms, transportation to societal workers, precise hands on, precise transactional."