It is still Good morning. Good morning. I'd like to
call this Community and Health Services committee meeting to order
today. We're going to be discussing the creation of culturally
responsive childcare in partnership with the Healing of Seven Generations.
We're going to have an update on the Canada wide
early learning and childcare directed growth and a preliminary overview
of the 2024 point in time count. And finally, an
update on Waterloo regional housing revitalization plan. And the plan,
committee, and for those who are in the audience, is
to Deal with the delegation under 5.1 from CUPE local
5191 and then we'll Also deal with item number
6.1, the strategy On equitable services and opportunities related to
30 Christopher and then, with committee's permission, we'll break for
lunch and after lunch, resume with the rest of the
agenda Beginning At 6.2, If that's in agreement with everyone.
To begin This meeting, we're again reminded that many of
our homes and places of employment in Waterloo region are
situated on the land that is the traditional territory of
the Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, and Chonnonton Peoples. We recognize and
deeply appreciate their historic connection to Waterloo Region and also
recognize the contributions Indigenous peoples have made in shaping and
strength in this community. We are grateful for the opportunity
to live and work here and reaffirm our collective commitment
to keep the promise that reconciliation takes Place through learning
and community building with the Indigenous people who continue to
live here. We are all treaty people with a responsibility
to honor our relations. And I just realized I forgot
To ask for a roll call, which I will now
ask Julie Hale to do. Thank you Chair. Regional Chair
Redman. Present. Councillor Craig. Present. Councillor Deutschmann. Chair Erb. Here. Councillor
Foxton. Present. Councillor Harris. Present. Councillor Huinink. Happy international Day of
Persons with Disabilities. Here. Councillor James. Present. Councillor Liggett. Present.
Councillor McCabe. Present. Councillor Nowak. Councillor Salonen. Present. Councillor Shantz. Present.
We have regrets from Councillor Vrbanovic. Councillor Williams. Present. And Councillor
Wolf. Present. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any declarations
of pecuniary Interest under the municipal conflict of interest act.
Seeing There are none. We have no presentations. We have
one delegation that has registered, and I'd Like to remind
the delegation of some guidelines For participation. When we're ready,
Please proceed to the podium. Make sure the switch on
the podium is turned on so that we can hear
what you're saying. You have five minutes to speak. If
you conduct yourself in any of the following manners, it
will Result in an immediate removal from the meeting. interrupting
councillors, staff, or other delegations, derogatory statements about councillors, staff
or others, and or any hate speech or defamatory comments.
And one last reminder for the delegation, Please do not
take any offense if following your presentation There are
no questions from Council. This is council's time to really
listen and reflect upon The opinions and ideas shared with
us from our community members. And a quick reminder to
the members of the audience, You're asked to maintain order,
and this means that you are not to address the
committee Without the permission of the chair, Interrupt anyone, Disrupt
the meeting with unreasonable noise or vocal expressions such as
applause, booing or cheering, And the display of signs or
posters. The sweet sound of a baby crying is fine.
So I would invite our registered delegation, Nick Desclouds,
CUPE, to proceed to the podium. Welcome. You have five
minutes. Hello, regional councillors. I'm here today speaking on behalf
of CUPE 5191, The paramedics who respond to 911 emergencies
in your region. I've come to advocate for an issue
that is more prevalent than ever. Wage parity for paramedics.
Paramedicine is evolving quickly. It wasn't too long ago we
were called ambulance drivers. We are now paramedics. And we
worked hard to obtain this title because what we do
outside of the hospitals, in your homes, and en route
to the hospitals, is medicine. Two paramedics can run a
cardiac arrest In your living room with the same protocols
as an emergency department's resuscitation Room, which has. Doctors, nurses,
respiratory therapists. And that's the part of the job we've
been doing for years. What's changed recently is that paramedics
are no longer just a means of rapid transport to
the hospital. We've had a dramatic increase in our scope
of practice with new medications, skills and protocols. We have
community paramedics, palliative care directives, The ability to treat and
discharge patients in their homes. And in 2025, we are
introducing protocols For alternate destinations. All of this extra education
has put an increased expectation and responsibility on paramedics to
ensure our residents not only receive prompt care, but are
taken to the right destination for the right reasons. And
I can proudly say the paramedics that serve this region
continue to rise to the occasion. But these new complexities
have come without recognizing the fact that we sit far
behind our emergency services counterparts in wage equality. primary care
paramedic hourly wages are 22.5% behind local fire services and
20.8% behind regional police. In addition, due to a
recent arbitration, paramedic wages are now 8% behind ambulance communication
officers, the people that dispatch us to emergency calls. One
of the reasons dispatchers were successful in their arbitration was
because they compared their wage inequality to police and fire
dispatchers. We are happy to see our dispatchers achieve the
wage parity they deserve, but it ignited the conversation between
paramedic unions across Ontario. Why aren't we doing the same?
Paramedics that serve this region are feeling the weight of
this inequality. We see extremely skilled, compassionate, empathetic, and well
educated coworkers leave our profession to become firefighters and police
Officers because the wage is simply better. Parity exists across
police and fire. Why not paramedics? Rectifying this wage
Correction is a significant ask. It should be noted that
paramedic services are 50% funded By the province of Ontario
through the Land Ambulance Service grant So the impact to
each resident is vastly different compared to when one of
our ally agencies makes a monetary request. with the advocacy
from the paramedic services senior leadership team over the past
few years, You, regional Council, are making significant investments into
our service. And for that we are grateful. Thank you.
Thank you for supporting a wellness budget. As a member
of the peer support team, I can confidently tell you
that this initiative has been immensely positive and continues to
improve. Thank you for the service Enhancements following the high
growth Scenario, something we desperately needed over these past years
to assist in managing the rapid pace in which our
call volume and regional population grows. Thank you for increasing
the number of FTEs to support our paramedics and logistics
members so they're eligible for health and welfare benefits. All
of these factors come together to strengthen support For paramedics
and the challenges we navigate within the healthcare system. But
from a paramedic's perspective, there is a piece of these
enhancements that is still missing. Wage parity. councillors, you are
challenged with incredibly complex problems every day and the impact
of the decisions you make Have the potential to make
real change across sectors. I fully appreciate That this ask
has an impact, but showing paramedics that there is an
acknowledgment of wage inequality is a commitment to recognition and
retention. The paramedics that I am fortunate enough to work
alongside are asking you to close this Wage gap. The
work your emergency services do is integral to keeping our
communities safe and supported. We deserve to be valued as
police and fire's equals, because ultimately we have the same
shared responsibility to respond to residents when they need us
most. Thank you again for hearing my presentation. You all
have incredibly challenging jobs that often go without recognition. A
commitment to caring for the well being of this region
and its residents is a goal that I know we
all share. Thank you. You have 30 more seconds.
Thank you very much. I don't see any questions from
councillors. Thank you for being here and for your colleagues.
Excuse me, Councillor Craig. Sorry, Mr. Chair. I'm so slow
today on a few items, but I do appreciate your
commentary. Just to let you know that I got my
ears pinned back about a year ago for referring to
paramedics as ambulance drivers, but I've corrected my ways. When
you look at Your wage request across the province, How
does it equate out? Like, where are you? can you
sort of give me an off the cuff answer on
that? I don't know Off the top of my head,
I know that there are Services across the province that
do have wage parity and have just achieved wage parity
and then there are also services that are kind of
in our area. And as I mentioned in my presentation,
One of the things that really ignited this was when
we saw this arbitration With the ambulance communications officers. as
you can imagine, The 8% above a primary care paramedic
who's actually going to these dangerous environments, unpredictable environments, Has
certainly creates that kind of confusion amongst our paramedics as
to why that gap exists. And then that's what ignited
this conversation as to why aren't we looking at police
and fire. We're all going to the same calls. If
I may, Mr. Chair, just if I make a comment, I
Was that a recent Remembrance Day ceremony With different members
of police were there and paramedics, and I was really
impressed with that The fact that, Not only do you
serve community, but You're involved in community. And one aspect
I never realized Was the fact that you have individuals
that clean the ambulances each time they come in. I
never even thought about that, In terms of the difficulty
of the job from each perspective. So I want to
thank you for what you do. And just to say
that I'm sensitive to what you're saying, but we have
to look at this, okay. Thank you. Thank you. I
don't see any other questions, so thank you for coming
in, and thank you to your colleagues for keeping our
community healthy and safe. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we
will move on to item six point one, Creating culturally
responsive childcare. Mr. Sweeney, do you want to introduce this?
And then we have some Staff presentation. Yes, my pleasure
to introduce this today. Council might remember back in April,
we came with a report Seeking some direction. And you
approved of that direction For staff to go away and
work with community Partners To develop an Indigenous led, Indigenous
focused childcare. And we are here today to present to
you Our collective idea here, so I'm going to turn
it over to my colleague Barb Cardow and a few
members of our community to give a presentation on what
we're proposing. Thank you. Great. Thank you very much. So
I'm Barb Cardow, and I'm the director of children services,
and I just Wanted to share with you that I've
been in this role for seven years, and shortly After
I came into this role, I met Donna Dubie, the
executive director at Healing of Seven Generations. And Donna
shared with me at that time her long standing dream
to create an affordable childcare Program Where Indigenous children and
families could access holistic, accessible, and culturally responsive childcare. And
Where children and staff could once again experience a sense
of belonging in the richness of their culture. It was
a conversation that Donna had had for 15 years with
my predecessors before me. When CWELLC or the Canada wide
Early Learning and childcare program was announced And the opportunity
to access funding to support the creation of new, affordable
childcare, We saw an opportunity, a way to support the
creation of Indigenous led childcare. Paulo Whitlow and Stephanie Bryenton
from the REDI team supported us in beginning an intensive
process to engage with Indigenous community partners and members of
the community. I would like to introduce you to Amber
Robertson, who is our planning associate in children's services, and
she has led the children services division in this important
work. And Amber is going to just provide a quick
overview of what the process Has looked like that led
us to where we are today. Thank you. With the
help of Paula and Stephanie, who are here with
us today, children's services Engaged In a multitude of consultations
with Indigenous organizations And individuals to understand the needs of
children who are First Nation, Inuit, and Metis in our community.
You can move a couple of slides.
So in April of this year,
We received Council approval to look into our two children's
facilities at 104 Sterling and at 30 Christopher Drive, and
we were acutely aware of the lack of appropriate, safe
and high quality space that's available in our community. And
the Healing of the Seven Generations through our consultations, came
forward and expressed interest in creating the Waterloo region's first
Indigenous led childcare center. From there, Renata and Donna and
their team and their board began to bring this long
standing dream to life. And the next slide provides some
details about the program. But in the interest of giving
our community partners some more time We'll just flash the
slide, and they'll tell you a little bit more about
their program Themselves.
Next slide, please. Thank you. So this is what brings
us here today. So we are seeking approval to enter
into a lease agreement for 30 Christopher Drive With the
Healing of Seven Generations. Indigenous led childcare will bring tremendous
benefits to our community. And demonstrate the region's commitment to
the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action. Specifically, I
quote, The Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls on all levels
of government to develop culturally early childhood education programs for
Indigenous families. Over the years since I first met Donna,
I've thought a lot about her dream and how children's
services could actually support it. While the Canada wide program
has provided the opportunity with new funding and our vacant
former children's center at Christopher on 30 Christopher Drive
has provided the quality Of space that an Indigenous program
deserves. And now it gives me great pleasure to invite
Donna Dubie And Renata Richards from the Healing of Seven
Generations to address council and acknowledge the sacredness Of this
work and the plan to open the first Indigenous led
childcare in Waterloo region. Sego.
I'm honored to be here today. Excuse me for interrupting.
I'm wondering if you, There. Thank you. Thank
you. Some of you may know me. Some of you
have not had the opportunity to meet me yet. But
I'm going to kind of tweak things up a little
bit For us in the next few moments. What I
would like to do is have a smudge with everybody.
And the smudge is just to bring our minds together to
have good thoughts about This daycare center for our children
to move forward. I'm going to gift each person with
a tobacco tie and a tobacco tie, When you're gifted
with a tobacco tie, It's kind of like a contract
Between those two individuals. But what this tobacco tie is
to say, thank you for listening to us Today. So
what I'm going to do is I'm going to ask
my knowledge keeper Kelly Curley to light up the smudge
and we'll go around and smudge Everybody. And I'll be
right behind him gifting you with the tobacco tie. And
then I can come back and share my thoughts with
you when we're done that. Thank You.
I'll walk around the outside To smudge everyone. If you
don't want to smudge, just hold your hand up. Then
I'll walk past you. Thank you.
So Kelly Curley is Healing of Seven Generations Knowledge keeper.
A man with a wealth of knowledge, he could Write
100 different encyclopedias. He's going to do our prayer. Thank
you. Good day, everyone. These are what they call the
words that come before all others. So whenever we have
a gathering we usually do a prayer. Nyawéñha for
this day. Sgénoñ’, Sgénoñ’ we give
thanks, we give thanks for the seven directions, the four
elements, the four seasons, the four colors of man. Sgénoñ’
we give thanks. we give thanks for the four legged
creatures, the two legged creatures, the multi-legged creatures, The legless
creatures, The winged creatures, the feathered creatures, the fish,
and the creatures of the waters. Sgénoñ’
we give thanks we give thanks for the insects that
crawl, fly or swim. Sgénoñ’ so we give thanks.
We give thanks for the many medicines, the many trees
and grasses that provide us Food, shelter, clothing and
Medicine. Sgénoñ’ So we give thanks. We
give thanks For the insects that crawl, fly or swim.
Segwun des we give thanks. We give thanks for the women,
The carriers of water, the givers of life, the nurturers.
Sgénoñ’ so we give thanks we give thanks
for the children who teach us love, Patience, tolerance, understanding
and acceptance. Sgénoñ’ so we give thanks. We give
thanks For the men, The Horascanagata, who are the protectors and
our providers, the warriors and the peacekeepers. For all the
things you've given us this day, we say Nyawéñha.
Nyawéñha. Segwun des for all the blessings you've given us.
We say in Nyawéñha, Nyawéñha, Sgénoñ’, Sgénoñ’, so at
this time we pray for knowledge of your will for
us and the power and ability to carry That out,
Donato. Thank you, Kelly. I'm not going to take up
much more of your time. What I do want to
share with you is just a little story. Like Barb
said, I have been dreaming about this for a long
time, and some of you May have known Mary Parker
when she was with the region, but her and I
traveled around and discussed opening up a childcare center way
back then when Mary Parker was here. I think for
me, A revelation, I'm Mohawk Turtle Clan from the territory
of the Grand River. I'm a mother, a wife, a
sister, a grandmother and a community member. I'm Turtle Clan.
And I'm Mohawk. And I think in doing the job
that I've been doing, it's not a job for me.
This is my dream. This is a dream job that
I have. For 25 years In this community Has allowed
me to meet many of you in this room. I
think this year we did our very first Youth camp
For our children. We had 40 children, and we did
it over a period of four weeks. The camp was
free for the children because It was totally a cultural
camp. All the traditions were involved. There was no reason
for me to charge the children To have to pay
for their own culture. But I think on the very
first day, it was quite the eye opener. When I
was informed by my daughter, Renata, I am currently mentoring
her to be the next executive for Healing of Seven
Generations. She took on the role To put together the
culture camp. And on the very first day she called,
she was so upset, I can't do this. And it's
like the kids were, You think about the kids, And
I know right now I can truly say that our
children are really that far removed from their culture. That
these kids came to camp, They were thinking, oh, my
God, Camp. We're going to do canoeing, Maybe three legged
Races, volleyball. And here they were, sitting in a circle.
They had to learn what patience was. They smelt the
medicine, maybe for the first time. They didn't understand what
they were doing there and It was like, well, Little
Bobby Joe over here was not having any of that.
And little Tommy Joe over here, he wasn't having any
of that. And it was a lot to try To
recompose Just for that just short time for the next
day. The next day, some of the elders came in.
We had the children sit down. We talked to them
lovingly, peacefully, Knowledgeably. And they started to listen. And they
were drawn To the drums, they were drawn to The
medicines. We had now smudged again a second day, They
were drawn to that. And over the course of the
next four weeks, We did everything. We did drum birthings.
We did Teachings on the medicine, teachings on the circle,
The medicine wheel. We sang some songs, did language. It
was just specifically culture For these kids. And at the
end, They loved it. The end was their drum birthing,
and they were there and they were there With their
families and they were singing songs and they were drumming
on their drums, and it was such an amazing Thing
to see these children, That it just warmed your heart.
So I know right now After that camp, I believe
that It's my responsibility and the Community's to work with
What I think Is the next 7th generation of children.
Hence the name Healing of the Seven Generations. Healing in
seven generations, The dream of Healing of Seven Generations would
be That in seven generations there would be no need
for healing of seven generations. But at some point we
got to start somewhere. So just the revelation of the
camp Itself Allowed me to truly believe that we are
working with our 7th generation of children. So much was
taken. My father was in the residential school for nine
years of his life. Kept my brothers and I away
from culture. But he brought us up in that residential
school mentality, Even though we didn't go there. So I
know for myself that We can bring culture back, we
can bring our language back, we can bring our ceremonies
back. And when you think about, and Don't get me wrong,
Truth and reconciliation is out there, but it almost seems
like An end game, Like a bullseye. I don't want
it to be a bullseye. Let's have conversation about how
we can move together As community, as neighbours, as people
within the same community who have the same goals for
the best Things in life for our children and our
future. That's what we have for ours to bring our
culture back and take this time right now. It's an
honor If we get 30 Christopher, to be able to
start this. So I want to say thank you, To
all of you, thank you for your time today, and
thank you for any and all of consideration that you
have. So I'm going to introduce my daughter, Renata. Thank
you. Thank you. This is my first time ever in
front of council. Surprisingly, I'm not really nervous, And I
don't really have a script, but I am just here
to say thank you in considering us to take Christopher
and Do our community honor with that daycare. That building
is beautiful. When we toured it, The outside space, I
can just picture it being all natural, Being on the
land, bringing all that back To what was taken from
our children. Like Donna had said, My grandfather spent nine
years in the residential schools, and we didn't grow up
in culture. And when I held that camp last in
the summer, my son went to that camp and we
never talked about culture growing up in our household either.
And he has taken all the stuff that he's learned
at the camp, There's still a lot of learning to
learn, And he reminds me now, oh, we got to
feed our drum, It's the full moon ceremony or we
got to do this, we got to do That. So
if we can have that, starting from little now, we
don't have to worry About our children losing their culture
because it's going to start From infants coming in and
smudging every day and having circle and to be able
to help regulate the children by saying if they would
like to smudge or take a time to be by
themselves and stuff like that. And 30 Christopher is a
beautiful building, and I think that We would really do
it justice by opening up the region's first Indigenous childcare
center and also it's going to be Part family center
with F&CS. I want to have a family visitation room
with that as well. So it's got all kinds of
different things Involved in this whole blanket effect on our
community, to bring them together. And to bring the culture
back to our community and our children that deserve it,
That was taken From the residential schools, so thank you
very much. Thank you so. We have a number of
questions here from Councillors, and I'm not sure if, so
I'll Start with Councillor James, who it's directed to. Councillor
James. thank you, Through you chair Harris, And thank you
For coming in And speaking with us today. My questions
may be for you or staff, But I also want
to say thank you for explaining the culturally responsive piece
and how important that is. I often think that For
a lot of us, we don't recognize how important culture
is and How the work that needs to be done
to ensure that there is no longer erasure and that
young generations coming up know their history, know their culture.
So one of the questions I had was around
that culturally responsive piece in the Indigenous care and maybe
providing a little bit of context to the difference between
Indigenous childcare and Our contemporary westernized childcare. Just some of
the nuance that exists there. I guess, The childcare whole
thing is really new to me, but the way I
can think about Mainstream compared to Indigenous is, I find
that Indigenity is more of a family unit, Where
it's like, instead of it being structured, where you've got
a teacher and you've got a director and a supervisor. Like I'm hoping, I want to have our centre
be aunties and uncles where everybody can come in there
and feel comfortable, and it's almost like it's a big
family, instead of it having to be so structured where
it's like you have Miss Jane And stuff like that.
So it's more of, like, It's like A very family
structure, even though we still have to follow ministry guidelines
for certain things like that. And I think, too, we're
going to have knowledge keepers in there. The language is
going to be spoken. And because we live in a
variety With various different languages. You can see by the
languages just out in your front foyer, all the native
languages, We're going to try and have as much diversity
in there when it comes to language as possible. The
medicine is going to be burning every day, so that
becomes A familiar Scent, A familiar time with them, understanding
when they smell the medicine. there will be drumming in
there and then the singing of the songs in various
different languages again. And the food. We're going to have
somebody that's going to come in that will cook a
balance Of, all nutritional food, But Indigenous food as well,
so They're introduced to Indigenous food as they go along,
so that when they come to a community feast, and
they might see some wild salmon there, that they would
know what it was or wild rice, Wild rice and
blueberries. It's so awesome. So bringing all these things Culturally
And We are also Talking to Cambridge Fire, Because what
else is important for us is to have A fire
pit outside. Because there's various different ceremonies throughout the year.
We have our condolence ceremonies That would need a sacred
fire. So all these components Would be involved With the
childcare center. That we are calling Ga'nigqhi:yo, which means carry
the peace. Excellent. And I just have one Other follow
up chair. I'm very mindful of what you said about
the truth and reconciliation and everyone gets stuck on those
94 calls to action, and then it becomes a checkmark
to see when we can get them all done and
it takes away from the actual intention that it's continuous
And ongoing. But I do have a question just related
to the three that Were identified. I think it's number
three, five and twelve and What that represents In terms
of the calls to action, just to connect it, because
we say we're doing this work, but sometimes we do
need to say, okay, how is this connecting to those
actions? I think when you look at Three, five, and
twelve, Whatever community that you're working with, It's about building
relationships. It's about having conversation. And it's about moving forward
together. Whatever community is going to have a different relationship
Within that specific community. And I found that in the
region of Waterloo, I have a good rapport With some
of the upper echelon. And I have had no problems.
If I have an idea or have a concern Or
To just reach out and have a conversation. So I
think the whole concept is about continuing The conversations, Continuing
the ideas, And continue to move forward. I hope that
answered your question. Yes, perfectly. Thank you. You're welcome. Paula,
I'm not sure, Did you want to respond to that
as well? Through the chair, since I dressed up for
you all today, The biggest thing towards reconciliation is that
political will, and obviously it rests here in Waterloo region,
as well as breaking down those systemic barriers. And I've
never felt so much happy energy as I do today,
and it's all about cultural safety And knowing that our
children Will be better cared for for the next generation.
So again now I go to the region. There are
five speakers. And so I'm wondering if we could, with
committee, agree that The questions right now would be directed
towards our guests, and then if there's any questions For
staff, We can do that at the end, if that's
okay. You're next Councillor Huinink. And this is for our guests?
Through the Chair, Yes, I'm wholeheartedly prepared to move the motion. I'm
really excited About that. Thank you, Donna and Renata and
Kelly, for coming today. I've never received tobacco before, so
I'm pretty excited about that. When I think of
this center, I'm imagining an Indigenous hub for little people, which
is such a beautiful thing, and I'm really excited For
the next generation to know that they have a valued
place in our community and not just one place, but
all places. There has been kind of An ask since
we came into office for multigenerational Indigenous hub as well.
And I'm not suggesting that this would be instead of
that or I'm talking additionally, but I'm wondering,
Renata, if you can speak More to, it sounds like
Your vision is wider than a hub for little people, like
you talked about having a family services room as well,
which I think is great. I don't know if you
have other multi generational initiatives in mind. It would be
good to know that and to share that with the
wider community as well. We're going to start small first
and try to see how that goes because right now,
With being partners with, community partners with FNCS, healing, there's
no room. So it just gives families a better place
to come and visit with their children more than the
2 hours or however many hours they get a day.
So I would love to see a bigger broader Hub
Of everything. eventually Once The age out of the daycare,
they have to turn around and go into mainstream school,
so Then They're losing all of everything that, well Hopefully
not losing, but they can't carry On the culture and
stuff that they've learned, because right now we don't have
an Indigenous school, so that's another thing She's trying to
work on, too. It's full circle because she started the
seed. It didn't get planted at the beginning, and I'm
starting to plant the seed now and have great deep
roots. once a wise, beautiful elder told me when I
was telling her about all the beautiful hard work, but
the heart and the dedication with my team and All
that with this daycare thing. She said, Renata, you got
to look at it as You're planting deep roots because
you want this to be successful, because this is our
children Of the future, and I'm like, oh, my God,
Yeah, that makes total sense. So I am planting the
next seed for my mom in honor of healing and
then for our children to move forward in the Future,
and hopefully we can expand And build. I appreciate your
wisdom To start small, literally and figuratively, I think that
I should follow that As well, but I look at
your wider vision, and I really love that. So again, Chair,
I'm willing to move the motion. I'll second it Chair. Next
is Councillor Wolf. Why are people waving hands at me?
Or you're seconding Chantal. Okay. Sorry. Thank you. Okay. Councillor
Wolf. Okay. Through you chair, As the Councillor representing Cambridge,
I'm very proud and happy that you're Coming To Cambridge.
And glad to see that 30 Christopher Avenue will be
once again used for childcare. It's wonderful that you're going
to be providing The cultural responsive childcare. Very much
needed. And my question Is simply, how many children do
you hope to serve at this location? 65 is what
we're going to be licensed, We're asking for licensing for.
Okay. Thank you. Chair Redman. Thank you Chair Erb. Donna I
totally remember Mary Parker, and what I remember about Mary
was that she always smelled like vanilla. Every time I
was with her, I thought, why do I want cookies?
But I also can't Let this opportunity pass without commending
a previous council. And I know I have some colleagues
That are still on this current Council who made The
really tough decision to stop delivering directly delivering childcare, and
we closed down five direct centers. And that was done
with the understanding that we would reinvest that money into
a variety Of supports for the broader community. And this
is evidence of one of those investments, so I'm so
thrilled to see you Here. My question Is, Have you
thought about and Renata It must be really hard trying
to follow your mum, Because she's a hard act to
follow. Have you thought about liaising with other childcare centers?
And I think of Councillor Shantz And I that were
at an Elmira opening of a childcare center About six
weeks or a few months ago. A while ago anyway,
and they had the best Thanksgiving and what they were
talking about Was learning some of the things that Councillor
James was talking about. These kids may be settlers or
Children of settlers, but they need to understand the Indigenous
way forward. And I know Barb Cardow Has her Finger
on the pulse of all things childcare, certainly provincially as
well as nationally. And I know there are other Indigenous
childcare centers, but I would really encourage you as you
start small And grow, Think about how you can bring
along other childcare centers that may not be focused specifically
on Indigenous children because There is A great variety of
people that are willing and happy to take your lead
and continue this education In other child care centers. So
congratulations, and this is a day to celebrate. Thank you.
Councillor Shantz. Thank you. Thank you for being here. You
introduced yourself, and I want to introduce myself. I am
7th generation of the settlers, the Mennonite settlers who first
came to Kitchener Of the Eby family. So We've traveled
a long road In those seven generations. And here we are.
And neither you nor I will be here seven generations
from now, but I share your dream.
And I hope that in seven generations, we no longer
have to have these discussions at this or any other
table. Thank you. Councillor
Salonen. Thanks, Councillor Shantz, for making me have to follow
up from that. I had a technical question. But thank
you very much for being here today and for all
of your efforts behind the scenes With our staff to
making this a reality. I was just wondering, as I
represent the township of Wilmot, I know that we have
many residents who are of Indigenous heritage and would probably
be very interested in the potential to have their kids
enrolled in one of Your spots. How would they go
about doing that? Or am I jumping the gun here?
So we're pairing with the One List with the regional
One List. So we're asking anybody who is interested,
Once we get everything up and running, we're hoping to
have A separate, Can we talk about that? Okay. Sorry.
We're hoping to have a separate Indigenous tab on the
One List where you Can click. And because we will
be The first region official Indigenous daycare We will be
the only one there, so if you click on the
Indigenous led childcare, It'll drop down, and hopefully, if they
can get it, It'll be us apply. And then We
will go from there. Yeah So the One List is
how we're accepting. Fantastic. Thank you very much. I don't
see any other questions. Thank you for your presentation. For
committee, We have a motion here, and it was moved
by Councillor Huinink and seconded By Councillor McCabe. Is there
any other discussion or comments? Chair Redman. Excuse me. I
don't know if this is, I thought this was the
staff questions, so I was Just going to ask staff,
but what will the catchment area be? Will this be
just Indigenous children In Cambridge or will this be region
wide? And I don't know if you've Landed on that
Or if that's something that Barb can answer. Okay,
it's Going to be region wide. Perfect. Thank you. No
problem. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have no questions. I
didn't speak up earlier, but as the mayor of Cambridge,
I've got to say that I am absolutely thrilled that
this is coming Into my community and that it's going
to provide for 65 spaces For the Indigenous children and
It's been, I can't even say it's been a long
time coming Because it was never thought of before. So
I'm thrilled that our community is going to be the
host city for this, and I hope that there's more
coming in the future. Us too. So we have a
motion on the floor. I would ask you to use
your eScribe Buttons to indicate to your support.
And that is carried unanimously. Thank you. Thank you.
And all Travel safe and enjoy the sunshine today. I
think a history lesson from today, maybe particularly for you,
Donna, is that dreams do come true. Maybe takes a
little bit longer than you'd like it to be. And
you've been thanking us, I think we need to thank
you. This feels like it's just a significant part of
the journey towards reconciliation that we're all on it
together. So thank you for being part of it. Thanks
to staff, to Barb, to Paula, for everybody That's made this happen.
And good luck. And keep dreaming. Yeah. Thank you. Thank
you. And I do want to thank all of our
staff who help pitch in in one way or another.
And Paula and Stephanie And Amber and Barb. Oh yeah, Barb.
They've been so awesome. I just want to thank everybody.
So thank you so much. Welcome. Thank you. Thank
you. So we are going to take a recess for
lunch. What, 30 minutes? 25. Don't argue with Julie.
We do have quorum, so we're going, in the
interest of time, we're Going to reconvene this meeting and
begin with item 6.1.2, A Canada wide early learning and
childcare Update and call on Mr. Sweeney to introduce this
report. Thank you Chair Erb. I'm actually going to quickly
pass it over to my colleague, Tyla, Who will walk
you through a quick presentation And share Some great things
that the team has been doing to do our best
to meet the needs of families and children across this
community. Tyla, it's all yours. Can you hear me now?
There we go. Okay, so Good afternoon. My name is
Tyler Fullerton. I am a manager in children services, and
I'm here today to provide an update on the new
licensed childcare spaces as part of the Canada wide Early
Learning and childcare plan, Which we call CWELCC and is
otherwise known as $10 a day childcare. Next slide, please.
Okay, so as part of CWELCC, the region was allocated
3,725 new licensed childcare Spaces to be created by 2026,
and we are happy to report that we are on
track To meet that target. To date, over 2,200 new
spaces have been created in Waterloo Region for children ages
zero to five and another 1,400 spaces will be created
before the end of 2026. New CWELCC spaces are located
in one of the 13 priority areas for childcare growth
That were selected because They have low access to licensed
childcare and a high proportion of families living with low
income. The spaces also prioritize access for families who need
affordable childcare the most and who are underserved in the
licensed childcare system. Next slide. So we wanted to take
the opportunity today to highlight some of the new childcare
programs in spaces that have opened in our community and
acknowledge the hard work and commitment of our local childcare
Operators to growing our childcare system. And so the first
program we wanted to highlight was or is Creative Beginnings
Early Learning and Childcare who opened their newest location
in Elmira in October 2024 with chair Redman and mayor
Shantz in attendance. This is a new 72 space nonprofit
center serving infants, toddlers and preschoolers, and it is their
first standalone site. It's located on land owned by the
township of Woolwich in a building that was going to
be torn down, but was repurposed for childcare with support
of the township. This project was supported with CWELCC startup
funding and other provincial and federal funding to support the
cost of renovation, First time equipping and supplies and building
An expansive, natural playground. Next slide, please. The next project
is Brason Montessori Academy, which is a new 63 space
center, a for profit center located in Waterloo at Park
Minister United Church. It's serving toddlers and preschoolers and is
the second child care location for a female entrepreneur from
Waterloo Region. The new location is close to a
Priority area. It's accessible by public transit and other arterial
roads, which make it an ideal location for families. This
project was also supported with CWELCC startup funding and like
all CWELCC expansions, The location is participating in the childcare
subsidy access pilot, which holds at least 30% of spaces
for children living with low income. Next slide, please. Licensed
home childcare has also experienced significant growth since the start
of CWELCC. 576 new licensed home childcare spaces have been
created, mostly serving children ages zero to four years, and
growth of these spaces is important because home childcare serves
families that need nontraditional hours, including overnight care. also
includes the language and mentorship program, or LAMP, which allows
caregivers who have lower levels of English to provide quality
care in their home to children from their language community
and LAMP is also partially funded by the region's equity
investment fund. Next slide, please. CWELCC growth has also included
just over 1,000 before and after school spaces, which are
operated by our local school boards and third party childcare
operators, and these spaces are co-located in schools that children
attend, which allows for a seamless day for children and
families with one drop off and one pickup at the
school that children are already familiar And comfortable with. Next
slide, please. So while the spaces that have been added
through CWELCC help address demand for childcare, additional spaces are
needed to fully meet Waterloo region's childcare needs, especially as
the region continues to grow. demand for licensed childcare Continues
to far exceed available spaces in Waterloo Region. Before CWELCC,
the waitlist for licensed childcare was Around 5,500 children. It's
now well over 10,000 children, with about 6,000 looking for
spaces immediately. even with the new CWELCC spaces, we have
been allocated only 32% of children ages zero To four
years have access to an affordable childcare space. And so
children's services has requested an additional 500 spaces from the
Ministry of Education to continue To grow and create affordable
infant, toddler and preschool spaces for families who need them
the most. Next slide, please. In alignment with the provincial
auspice requirements, which requires that the region maintain a ratio
of 85% not for profit spaces to 15% for profit
spaces. The majority of new CWELCC spaces created in waterloo
region are not for profit spaces and locally there
is strong interest And organizational capacity from not for Profit
operators to support the creation of new CWELCC spaces. but
not for profit operators have identified barriers to increasing childcare
in priority areas, particularly the lack of affordable land and
or space that is suitable for high quality childcare. Next
slide, please. To help address some of these barriers, Children's
services is continuing to work with internal and external partners
to identify land and space that can be used for
community based, not for profit care. So this has included
working with housing services, with economic development and facilities to
identify regionally owned lands and buildings and priority neighborhoods that
can be used for community Based, not for profit childcare.
And this has resulted in some really innovative and exciting
projects that we want to highlight today. The first is
the inclusion. Next slide, please. So one of the projects
we wanted to highlight is the inclusion of a childcare
center in the mixed housing project at 1388 Highland Road
west in Kitchener on regionally owned lands and so this
development is part of the Building Better Futures project. Savic
Homes is currently working with a local nonprofit childcare operator
to plan for the space. And when it opens, it
will serve 88 children in a priority neighborhood. This development
provides a purpose built, affordable rental space for an operator
who was looking to expand and create new spaces in
our community, and it also represents a new way of
working together for us With three partner organizations working to
create affordable housing and childcare together at the same location
and as a model we hoped to replicate again in
the future. Next slide, please. Another project that I will
only say just very quickly is located on regionally owned
lands Is what we heard about today, that Ga'nigqhi:yo Child
Family center, which will be the first Indigenous led childcare
center in Waterloo region. Next slide, please. Children services is
also working with other community partners, including the Waterloo Region
District school board and the Waterloo Catholic District School board
to identify potential school sites that would accommodate prefabricated modular
buildings, Which may accommodate not for profit operators. And so
this would allow childcare to be created efficiently And cost
effectively in the neighborhoods where children live. Schools are an
ideal location for a number of reasons parents prefer to
have childcare that's located close to their home and many
schools Are located in residential areas with green space for
Playgrounds. When childcare is located, is co-located with schools,
the schools functions as a community hub from the neighborhood
and children can attend a childcare location that they are
already familiar and comfortable with. Next slide, please. So currently,
the CWELCC plan is fully funded by the province and
has no impact to the regional property levy. The operating
budget for CWELCC for 2024 with 99 million and of
this 8 million Was foreseeable startup funding to support childcare
growth. However, this amount of funding available does not fully
cover the renovation and startup expenses, and childcare operators must
also contribute towards the cost Of expansion. Next slide, please.
Access to quality and affordable early layering childcare is necessary
for the well being of all children, women's workforce participation,
addressing the impacts of poverty, and supporting a robust economy.
Children's services remains committed to expanding the local licensed childcare
system in an intentional manner that balances the needs of
children and families with supporting childcare Operators. Further growth of
the childcare sector will ensure that Waterloo region has childcare
spaces for families who need affordable, high quality childcare the
most. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor
Huinink. Thank you Chair. Thank you for your presentation. Very
good. The Indigenous Childcare center that you referred to toward
the end of your presentation is not the same one
that we just. Yes, That is the same one, yes. Okay.
Thank you. Just making sure I'm Appropriately informed. Thanks. Are
there any other questions? Thank you. It's good to see.
No, this is for information only. We don't need
a motion. It's good to see The numbers that are
increasing. So thank you all for the work that you're
doing. Such an important file. Thank you. Thank you so
for your time. All right. On to 6.2 homes for
all, the point in time count preliminary information. Mr.
Sweeney, you're going to introduce this. And this is for
information only Again, and recognizing that there's going to be
a lot of interest in this, Just to remind committee
that Before we get into too much detail today, There's
going to be some more details coming back to us
in January with what brought us to these numbers. So
just keep that in the back of your mind. Mr.
Sweeney. Yes. Thank you, Chair Erb, Again, this is just for
information. Both Ryan and I are here to answer any
questions that you might have. I guess my opening comments
is just to clarify Again that This is the preliminary
number that we are releasing publicly. This is the aggregate
number, and in the new year We will be bringing
back further analysis. I've had a number of questions from
councillors And from the general public around, Will we See
data around How folks have fallen into homelessness, will we
see data on Sort of disaggregated on identity and questions
like that, and the answer is yes. And so we
will be working on that. I guess the other thing
to say is that this number Is alarming and not
surprising Based on The experience that we've had As staff,
as partners, and around this Council, the conversation we've been
having around the exponential Growth of homelessness across this community.
So as it relates to the work and the approved
plan to end chronic homelessness, It's a timely data set and
it is just that. It is one data set. It's
a very important one, but there are a number of
Initiatives that we continue to carry out to ensure that
we're providing data informed decisions and solutions for the community.
So we'll just open it up for questions for whoever
wants to. And again, both Ryan and I are here
to answer any questions. Thank you. Councillor James. Thank you.
Through you chair Erb, I was shocked but not surprised
at the number seeing that come out. What I do
want to comment on is the actual survey. So as
someone who looks through a lot of data and creation
of surveys and all of that, I think This is
set up in a way for when you do provide
the results, the desegregated data, There will be something to
tell from this just based on the question And The
information, but I also want to confirm if there was
a qualitative piece to this Survey. Was there any opportunities
for short answer? With the whys, maybe. Mr. Pettipierre.
Thanks for the question, Councillor. And through you chair, no,
that the survey that you see is what was presented
to the individuals that we worked with. There was no
additional component That was recorded or that will be reported
back on it, we'll be pulling the information From the
survey And the responses provided to those specific questions. Okay,
perfect. But overall I do want to say that I
like the way this survey was able to ask a
variety of questions to help with the desegregated info When
you do present that. Thank you. Chair Redman. Sorry, Mr.
Sweeney wants to add something to that. sorry chair Redman,
before that Councillor James, Just want to also add, in
addition to Ryan's comment about this specific survey, is to
go back to my earlier comment around this is just
one, albeit again, a very important data set, For some
of the Richest qualitative data, I would point council back
to the key findings report and the lived expertise report
around the plan to end chronic homelessness that includes a deep, deep
dive that we haven't seen in some time, Just as
a further data set as well. Thank you. Chair Redman. Thank
you, chair. I was surprised when I was at a
recent AMO board meeting that we actually have our numbers
out before Other communities. And my understanding is that a
PIT count is actually something that's directed by the federal
government every couple of years. Yes, this is a federally
required piece of work. And I don't know for the
first but we're certainly one of the first. Ryan, I
would think, I don't know If you know that for
a fact, but we are certainly earlier than most. And
I guess the only other thing that I would like
to underscore and it maybe touches on a little bit
what Councillor James was talking about, and my recollection is
there Were 40 individuals that went out with these surveys,
and I think that that creates a much richer relationship
and in better data. Again Really alarming, but not surprising
given the projections that had already been part of the
data point In the data set for the plan to end
chronic homelessness. I don't know if you want to comment
on that, but I've always felt that last time and
this time gave us a much more accurate and richer
experience than maybe just trying to find out who would
handle these surveys. Mr. Pettiepierre. Yes thanks for the question,
chair Redman, we learn every time we've done one of
these and we get better at doing the work and
counting. A big part of that effort this year was
working with 40 different organizations across this community to really
put a push on what we refer to as hidden
homeless folks that we may have missed In our regular
counting or in previous point in time counts, and we've
specifically targeted those groups in various ways through our agency
partners this year. So I think what you're seeing
is not only is it an alarming number, but it's
more robust in how we've gone about doing it and
I think as a result of that work, more accurate
than maybe it has been in the past. And If I
may, I asked that question that the AMO board meeting,
because they're looking at how we approach pending elections, which
we all know are coming, We may not know when,
and had they looked at their point in time data
to sort of inform that initiative, and I got a
bunch of blank stares, which surprised me and let me
know That we were probably the first out of the
blocks in sharing this with our community. Councillor Huinink. thank
you Chair. Mr. Sweeney, Mr. Pettipierre, thank you so much
for the work that you and your team do
for us. We know it's very difficult. I'm not surprised
by the point in time count, but I am saddened
and I was wondering if you could speak to Where
does Waterloo Region sit in terms of, like, Is there
any per capita data? Are we doing better than other
municipalities in terms of Supporting the homeless. Mr. Pettipierre.
Thanks for the question, Councillor Huinink. And through you, chair,
That's part of what we'll come back with in the
new year. As chair Redman referenced, we're one of the
first to have our number out there publicly. Several other
municipalities conducted at point in time count around the same
time. Some have gone after and some are still to
come. Once everybody has completed their data, we'll have a
better look at how we stack up Comparatively across the
province and nationally when it comes to this work. Okay,
great. I do want to underscore that I think our
valuing lived expertise in this area is unique, and so
I'm all for that. I just want us to be
the best region in the country. And that Includes supporting
the homeless population the best we possibly can. Thanks. Mr.
Sweeney. Yes, Through you chair, Thank you. I just want
to add to that as well. Chair Redman referenced AMO,
so we also know that amo will be coming out
in the new year With a provincially focused Research project
that will, based on a number of data sets, including
Ours, attempt to enumerate The challenge of homelessness across the
province, and they are also telling us they will be
able to quantify The investment required To both reduce and
then finally eliminate homelessness across Ontario. We're told they won't
Disaggregate it by community. There will be a rural urban
split and potentially an Indigenous split, but it, again, it
will go to some other data sets that we will
be able to continue to tell this story, to reinforce
The importance of the plan And the ongoing commitment to
that work. Councillor Shantz. Thank you. My question's partially been
answered. And I guess. What I was contemplating Is, Our
last PIT count was done in 2021, and we've talked
about how much more robust this count has been. So Can
you speak any more to the difference In the quantum
and in the counts. Can we rely on a comparison
or should we just sort of forget about comparing to
the past and say, this is where we're at, and
this is what we have. And I also look forward
to some of the disaggregated information. I think it'll be
really helpful. Mr. Pettipierre. Yes. Thanks for the question, Councillor
Shantz. And there's a lot to unpack In that question.
2021 was a very different time In the world coming
out of post Covid, we alluded to some of that
in the report and our ability to get a really
accurate count during that time. I think what we've also
seen coming out of Covid is Increased inflation, stagnant job
wages, soaring rents. There's a lot of systemic factors that
have simply not gotten better since the last count that
we did. So I believe, without doing further analysis, I
put forward that The count is both more accurate And
we continue to see an increase in the inflow into
homelessness in this community and across the country based on
some of those larger systemic factors that contribute to it.
Councillor McCabe. Thank you, through you chair, This may be
something you can answer when we get the disaggregated data,
but. I'm thinking back to when Jennifer Gordon and a
couple of others were here talking about The issue of
undercounting or hidden homelessness, particularly for women And for people
who are gender diverse and just wondering If there's, hoping
there's a commitment to really pull at that thread and
really so that we get a better picture, particularly about
women who Are couch surfing, That hidden homelessness that was
brought to our attention a few months ago. Thank you.
And through you, Mr. Chair, Yes, absolutely. And speaking of
the commitment to, Jennifer Gordon led a whole lot of
that work from the community side with this, particularly when
it comes to women In the issue of hidden homelessness,
and I can say that we're so committed that we
actually hired her To now lead our plan to end
chronic homelessness. So through the count this year I mentioned before,
that we did put a dedicated effort into counting those
hidden homeless populations That included Newcomers, Indigenous, veterans, women and
gender diverse individuals. And what I can say explicitly is
the counting of those populations was way more robust than
it has been in the past. Maybe not completely accurate,
but we put a concerted effort into making sure that
we're able to find them, enumerate them, and hear their
stories so that we can tailor programming In the future
to address their needs as well. I don't see any
other questions. And this report is for information purposes only,
with more detailed information coming back in January. Thanks To
Mr. Pettipierre and staff. This is no small undertaking. To
use a word that's maybe overused sometimes, I think the
initial number was A bit of A shock. But If
we reflect back on a report that we got with
a plan to end chronic homelessness, I think it was in
April, This was the number they were forecasting. And the
numbers going forward equally were forecasted. And so we do
have a plan in front of us to address some
of this, and I'm so hopefully we'll be able to
address some of these issues going forward. Thanks to everyone,
particularly the 40 from the community who participated. 6.2.2 the
waterloo region housing revitalization plan. Mr. Sweeney is up
again. Yeah Just briefly, though, I guess I will just
state what is probably pretty obvious. We just spent a
few minutes talking about a very significant challenge we have
in this community that we are facing as a community,
and now we're going to turn your attention To some
work we are doing to address it and help solve
that problem. So I'm going to turn it over to
Ryan to walk us through a quick presentation and then
answer any questions. Thanks, Peter. And good afternoon again, chair
Erb and regional council. We're in front of you next
to provide some context, Some updates, And some consideration for
future opportunity with regards to our Waterloo regional housing revitalization
plan. And you'll likely recall us referring to this plan
as the WRH master plan in the past. And, however,
being increasingly aware of the power of language through our
work and equity work specifically, we're now calling this plan
the revitalization plan. Same plan, but new name. This was
the plan originally approved in 2019, and we've been back
in front of you With various updates and amendments approved
over the intervening years. And today marks another one of
those milestones as we look forward to not only updating
you on the significant work made to date, but to
also get your input on how we move Forward. With
our final two revitalization projects. To start, I wanted to
give you a bit of context. And on this slide
And the next one I'll endeavor to do so. We
have plans. We have lots of plans. We certainly do
not lack for plans in housing services. And so much
so that at times it can be confusing for which
plan we're referencing At which time. I thought it might
be a benefit to speak to three of our larger
plans And explain exactly what they are and how they
are related. So I'll start With the plan to end
chronic homelessness, and I think this is probably most familiar
to all Of you, given its recency and attention that
it's garnered over the last year or so. at its
core, This is our plan to address homelessness issues in
our community, To prevent experience of homelessness wherever possible, And
to ensure that when homelessness does occur, it is rare,
it is brief, and it doesn't happen again. So that's
our plan for addressing homelessness in this community. When it
comes to affordable housing, we have a plan that you
may have heard referred to as building better futures. At
its core, this is our plan to create 2,500 new
affordable homes inside of five years. You may have also
heard an announcement just over a week ago from chair
Redman after national housing day that we have not only
achieved that goal, but we have surpassed it inside of
four years. That is our plan for creating affordable housing
that works alongside our plan to address chronic homelessness. Underneath
that plan, building better futures, and connected to it and
supporting it as the plan I'll be talking to you
about in more detail through the next few slides. This
is our Revitalization Plan for Waterloo Regional housing. At the
heart of this plan Is the goal of redeveloping six
of our existing WRH sites to create at least 600
Net new homes overall, and I'll spend a little bit
more time on the at least part of that and
then net new in the coming slides. Those are the
three large plans that guide a lot of our work
in housing services, one specific to homelessness, one specific overall
to affordable housing, And as part of that affordable housing
plan, The revitalization plan that's contributing units to that 2,500
new affordable units in five years, to the tune of
at least 600 of them overall. This is a slide
you've definitely seen before. We've added a few more details
To it that I'll unpack with you. The top part
of the graphic is the housing continuum, which I think
you're quite familiar with Now, it's a very simplistic layout of
the various stops of housing across the continuum. A Simplistic way
of demonstrating A pretty complex Concepts and movement overall. Underneath
that, though, we've added a couple of bars that show
you where the plans that I just went over sit
in the areas of the housing continuum that they are
meant to target. So on the left hand side, you'll
see our plan to end chronic homelessness in the black bar.
That's a plan that attempts to address issues of homelessness
from the far left of the continuum in terms of
unsheltered homelessness all the way up through and including supportive
housing. Below that, you'll see a dark blue bar that
says building better Futures. Again That's our larger affordable housing
plan. Creating 2,500 new units. Those units span a type
that constitutes supportive housing all the way through to affordable
home ownership. Those are the types of units that we
are creating under that plan. and then again nested within
that plan in the lime green bar is our revitalization
plan for Waterloo Regional housing. It is specific to community
and affordable rental housing. And again, those units are contributing
to the overall count of the 2,500 incorporated into building
better futures. Below those bars are ones that you would
have seen previously. The light blue bar representing the places
and spaces that we have available As service levels at
each of the stops along the continuum, and below that,
the dark green bar That lays out the percentage of
the housing and homelessness budget that is dedicated to each
one Of those stops. So I thought this might be
helpful in understanding the plans that we have, How they
interrelate and How they support not only our service levels,
but Actually direct the budget that supports each of them
along the continuum For the broad scope of responsibility that
we have As service system manager for housing and homelessness
in the Region of Waterloo. All right, a bit of
context. I want to quickly give you some updates on
various projects that we have underway, through our revitalization plan.
First one overall, Kingscourt Drive in the city of Waterloo,
currently under construction. We've got an estimated occupancy of 2025.
This will have 73 units. All net new units. The
slide actually says new new units.
So, yes They will be
very new units, but they are also net new. And
we say net new. What we mean by that is,
we did not have to remove or demolish an existing
building or units in order to build these. These are
built on a piece of excess property on an existing
site. So all the units created Here are net new
units. Our plan is also approved by the previous Council
under a priority of community benefit. So as we're working
with our existing tenants, neighbourhoods, agencies and communities. We're designing
these buildings to have the greatest impact for community benefit
overall. So at Kingscourt, that looks like Partnering with
the Region of Waterloo Senior services to provide programming space
for older adults that are experiencing dementia. There will also
be other amenity spaces at this building, including indoor gathering
space, Outdoor community gardens and a playground. Next up, we
have 82 Wilson. It's being constructed on a similar timeline
to Kingscourt with an expected occupancy again in 2025.
Here's where the net new math comes in, it'll be
48 units in total, 32 of which will be net
new for those of you that are Quick on the
math, you'll realize that this building is taking the place
of what was A 16 unit building in Waterloo Regional
housing. Tenants in that building were relocated, the building was
taken down, and we'll be building 48 Units total, 16
of which will be replaced back into this building. This
is another building intended for older adults. It's going to
look, as you see on the rendering, as a six
story apartment. community Benefit. Amenities here include an outdoor courtyard,
indoor gathering spaces, programming space for a dedicated community partner
to provide services in this building and the other building
That is on site, and it's also going to include
a commercial kitchen for use in the neighborhood. Next up
in our development timeline, we have Langs in the city
of Cambridge, also currently under construction, but with an estimated
occupancy of 2027. Again, you'll see the net new math
here. In total, we'll have 136 units on the site
when all is said and done, 98 of those being
net new. We've got some interesting community benefit amenities happening
here in terms of a playground, play areas, barbecue pits,
picnic benches. Inside, we'll have multipurpose rooms, meeting rooms, community
gathering space. There also will be a contribution of public
art that will be featured at this site. Fourth site
and biggest sites at Mooregate in the city of Kitchener.
This one is in the design phase of the work,
with an expected occupancy of 2029. 378 units projected At
this site into apartment style towers of nine and eight
storeys. Our plans at this point for community amenities include
having space for a retail tenant, a community agency partner,
and a childcare center. Next In the development list, We
have Shelley drive, again in the city of Kitchener. This
one is in the early design stages. So early that
I don't even have an artist rendering to share With
you on this slide, but it does have an estimated
occupancy, again, of 2029. Another larger redevelopment with 192 total
units. It'll be a mix of apartments and townhouse style
there. And we're Right in the mix of our tenant
Liaison committee and youth engagement committees as well, and I'll
speak a little bit more about those in a coming
slide. The 6th and final revitalization plan Property will be
at 140 Weber. And I'll talk a little bit more
about that site Specifically when we get to an opportunity
for your consideration In a couple of slides. Before I
do that, though, I wanted to talk a bit about
two aspects of all of this Work that you may
not Necessarily hear a lot about, and I think that's
a positive sign, actually. The first is tenant relocation. And
as you would have seen from the previous slide, this
has had to happen at all but our Kingscourt
site in order to facilitate the new construction and this
is work that, as you can imagine, needs to be
done with sensitivity and compassion. we're Asking people to
leave their homes so that we can create These new
homes. And you can imagine if this work was not
done well, what that would look And what that would
feel like across the region. We have a specific staff
That does this tenant relocation. As a coordinator Val is
not here today, but she does this work with these
tenants, and she does it very. Well. We've learned through
this process, and we continue to learn through this process,
but this work is led with compassion, flexibility, and communication
that Val applies to do this work so that we
can create these new homes. Also wanted to mention tenant
engagement as a key part of the work. That may
also be something that you don't get to hear a
lot about. Tenant engagement in the design process for redevelopment
is central for creating the final designs that we end
up with to add all of these properties. The design
choices that are made, We know that they can impact
community wellness in that a well designed building or public
space can and should foster a sense of belonging by
creating those spaces that are between work and home, that
invite social connection and interaction and by engaging the tenants
in the design process and early in the design Process,
We aim to create a sense of community and responsibility
with our tenants that will ultimately live in these buildings.
Centering the community within that process fosters community ownership, Sense
of pride. And that gets done through the tenant liaison
committees and youth committees that work directly With the architects
on these projects to create the design principles for the
new buildings. This is overall, to this point, facilitated designs
that have a strong relationship with our neighborhoods that are
located that they are located within. Also being mindful about
those that use the buildings, their specific needs, and allowed
for creation of knowledge transfer between our tenants and the
professionals that are designing the buildings. All right. Last
slide. And this one relates to the future directions for
our revitalization plan, Pertains to the last two properties In
our redevelopment list. And as I mentioned before, We brought
updates, amendments and opportunities To you as committee and Council
for your consideration along the way of this plan. It
has not been a rigid or fixed plan, and we'll
continue to look and identify opportunities that we can adjust.
And hopefully be creating better end products for this community
as we go along. The first opportunity that we're looking
for Your feedback and input on relates to The property
At Shelley have that I mentioned earlier. This property is
bordered between Courtland Ave On the one side and Shelley
on the other in the city of Kitchener. And it's
the portion of the parcel along Shelley drive that's set
for redevelopment. While there's another significant portion of the parcel
that fronts onto Courtland Avenue, Well, that presents with a
few opportunities For your consideration. It'll be about a four
acre parcel along Courtland avenue That we have opportunity
to look at, That was not contemplated through the original
approval of the revitalization plan. Those opportunities can look like
selling the land And using the proceeds to finance the
overall revitalization plan or new affordable housing, it could look
like selling or leasing that land through a request for
proposal process to generate more affordable housing Owned by a
third party. Or it could look like us retaining ownership
of that land and considering it For further development of
a future iteration of a revitalization plan Overall. The other
opportunity that I briefly touched on pertains to 140 Weber
street. This is our 6th and final redevelopment sites Under
the plan. And This particular property Is home right now
To supportive housing tenants. As Waterloo Regional Housing We are
the owners of the property, the landlords of the property,
but We partner With Indwell to provide The supports on
site to our residents And ultimately operate That particular building.
and so being sensitive to the needs of this particular
population, We're looking at some opportunities related to the future
ownership model of this site. And we're doing so With
trying to find benefit for the existing tenants, And rather
than doing a one by one, individual relocation for
those tenants looking for an opportunity where we could consider
a mass rehousing of Those tenants In a new supportive
housing building As one of the opportunities that we could
see. We could also see, through partnering with a different
ownership model, an ability to reduce the projected capital Costs
or creating net new affordable units at this particular site.
Or finally, Again, having the potential to sell or lease
the land Through an RFP Process overall. So I'll leave
you with Those opportunities to consider would be happy to
hear your feedback and input as we go away and
do some work And bring further thought out plans for
those two sites back for your consideration. And I think
in closing, I'll leave you with it, I think you
can see that the work related to our revitalization plan
is it's complex, and it's also grand in its scope.
And it couldn't happen Without a whole lot of divisions
at the region, working very closely, and they're very aligned.
Together, along with our colleagues at the area municipalities, So,
a special thanks to our friends and facilities in
finance, in legal, in planning and economic development, Our tenants and
our neighborhoods overall to make all of this work happen.
To date, the role of permanent and deeply affordable housing
across the region, It can't be overstated. Without it, it
creates challenges that ripple through an entire community, Creating obstacles
to financial financial security, good health, educational success and employment.
Knowing this and the alignment of this work with our
strategic plan, growing with care, The work being done through
this revitalization plan is vital not only today to meet
the growing demand for affordability, but for the success of
future generations in this region. The two opportunities presented to
you today with regards to Courtland Ave And 140 Weber,
They've been done, Recognizing the importance Of that, but also
bringing forward opportunities to address the escalating municipal costs of
delivering on This ambitious plan. Happy to take your feedback
on what you've heard today, As well as address any
questions that you may have. Thanks very much for the
presentation. Councillor Shantz. Thank you, And thank you for the
presentation and To Peter and Ryan and your team. You
have a very complex and challenging problem to work with.
So we appreciate all the work that you do. My
question, if you can Put up slide five, My question
is, This is really our picture here. Is there a
way that We can add in the community piece. And
I'm not even sure exactly what it would look like,
but you've got the spaces, Region of Waterloo, Those are
region of Waterloo spaces. For example, I was talking to
a developer This week Who's interested In providing spaces and
looking for a way to do that. I know there
are other developers that also Are trying to be part
of the solution. How do we mesh that all together?
Because the PIT count Is community wide. Mr. Pettipierre.
Thank you, Councillor Shantz. And excellent question, and one that
I hope this slide helps Us to address. So the
plan that we went over today, again, is specific to
that green bar. Very specific to community housing And to
affordable rental housing. That's our part of the equation and
contributing overall to building better futures. The plan as it's
projected right now, for WRH is going to contribute 669
Units. that may change a little bit as The design
process for our Final few redevelopments closes in, but that
is part of the overall Work of building better futures.
We continue to engage in partnerships with the private and
not for profit sector. And those are where we're seeing
additional contributions that have gotten us to that 2,500 to
unit count to date, Where we have significant plans to
do even more. And so while the WRH plan is
a significant contribution, rough math, about 25% of the overall
2,500 units, The rest are being done in partnership with
the private and not for profit sectors. And as we
look to future iterations of these plans, the next version
of Building better futures, they'll continue to play a very
significant part. And we're always looking for new opportunities to
partner. As I mentioned, even in some of these opportunities
with our revitalization plan, but more broadl. Overall. There are
significant parts, and we'll need to continue to play an
even more significant part, If we're going to be successful
in addressing chronic homelessness. you'll see that there is an
overlap between the plan to end chronic homelessness and building better
futures. We cannot prevent or end homelessness without more work
on the affordable housing side of the equation. And more
partners are necessary to do that beyond just what we
can do through Waterloo regional housing. Bit of a long
answer. I hope it helps. Just to follow up, This
may come, We need to desegregate the PIT count, but
do we know how many People, and I've said this
before, we've got people in emergency shelters that are ready
to move. Do we have those Quantums That we can
see where the bottleneck is, I guess. Part of that
will become more clear through the analysis in the point
in time count. Peter alluded to this earlier, One of
the biggest ways that we can address programming is understanding
the reasons how people became homeless homeless in the first
place To provide a bit more of an upstream approach
in terms of prevention, but also through the survey, understanding
what would be most helpful for people to exit The
state of homelessness. I mentioned through the Waterloo Regional Housing
Revitalization plan Where we'll be starting occupancy in a lot
of those units beginning next Year, that's going to contribute
a whole lot to Solving many people's states of homelessness
currently. Overall, when we look at the total number of
shelter spaces and the total number of units that we'll
be bringing online There's more new units coming online Even
than we have emergency shelter spaces right now, so The
answer ultimately to homelessness is more housing, more deeply affordable
housing, and specifically more supportive or housing with supports that
we're able to offer this population. We need to continue
to focus Efforts on That end of the equation, do
our planning and our budgeting accordingly so that we can
both prevent and end homelessness. Councillor Huinink. Thank you, chair.
I have a comment and then a couple of questions
That I'm going to try to roll into one. Thank
you, First of all, team for your sensitivity to language
and the way that it helps us or hinders our
thinking, I'm so glad to know what net new housing
means, and also the Thinking behind The name change for
the plan. I think that's fantastic. In the report, or
the presentation, I should say, You reference Community partner space.
Have those partners been designated already? And if not, how
would they apply? And then just if I could briefly,
I know of an initiative undertaken by Toronto
City Council and the Indigenous community There, I think the
initials are ICEC. I can't remember the long form of
that right now, but it involves Two floors of Indigenous
housing within an apartment apartment building, which also includes Indigenous
health center and community hub And marketplace. I was wondering
if and how and whether that would be a good
idea For our revitalization plan. Thank You
for your questions, Councillor Huinink. So for our first three
redevelopments, Kingcourt, Wilson, and Langs Drive, we do have partners
planning to provide service in the space. At Kingscourt,
it will be senior services providing older adults services to
that population And that community in the building. We'll also
have seniors' partners at Wilson. We don't have an agreement
in place With them just yet So I'll refrain from
naming them. And we also do have partners lined up
At Langs. Langs Is a particular hub that Had service
agencies providing support in the past. They will be invited
back, and we'll also be looking for new partners beyond
that, In terms of Mooregate, Shelley, And 140 Weber, Nothing
sets for those particular redevelopments yet. We'll work with our
engagement and liaison committees as well as the neighbourhoods to
try to find the partners that we think will support
those populations Overall the best. Your comment on potential Indigenous
partnership in any or all of these buildings I think
is excellent And one that we can look at specifically,
Both in terms of the services or even the units
provided. To go back to a previous question, from Councillor
Shantz, we were happy to support KW Urban Native Wigwam project
to open up Their housing project in the city of
Kitchener earlier, or in the city of Cambridge earlier this year
through our building better Futures initiative. So part of that
bigger plan as well and have started some great partnerships
there and I could see That could be something that
continues through these new redevelopments. Great. Thanks for your consideration.
Councillor McCabe. Thank you. And as the others said, thanks very
much for this information And the work on this. Just
a couple of questions, one of which is, I was
a bit Surprised, And maybe it doesn't fit in here,
but where was 555 Beechwood Drive on this?
because That's a plan, That's a project that was, It's
been in the work for a while. Let's just say
that. Through you chair, so the projects that I reviewed
today are again specific to the Waterloo housing revitalization Plan,
so sites that we own or operate as Waterloo Regional
housing, as a landlord entity and so Those are the
six redevelopments that I spoke to specifically. Outside of that
work, We've been finding other ways to partner with the
community that contribute to that broader building Better futures initiatives.
So 555 Beechwood was one of the very
first surplus land sites that we engaged through The kickoff
of building better futures. So it's a partnership with a
private sector developer and the region where we put that
property out through a request for proposal process. Developers bid
on it and ultimately One proponent Was selected. It has
been a long time in coming And moving forward to development.
So it is part of the larger building Better Futures
initiative, it is not under the WRH revitalization plan. My understanding
and the latest update from my team And Georrza at
the city is that we are sneaking up on a
building permit on that Site. And hopefully we'll see some
shovels in the ground, If not shortly, Then by the
spring is the latest that I have on that particular
site. Okay. Thank you for that. Specifically for Waterloo region
housing, Because I've heard that there's some municipalitie,s I'm wondering
about the housing accelerator fund, because my understanding is the
region Didn't have the option of applying for that. But
since I've also understood that some municipalities have returned money
in some cases, like, is it worth a conversation again
with like, is there federal dollars through that program because
we have some land that maybe We could, Is it
possible to talk to them to see if they may
change some of that Criteria and say, look, we've got
some land ready to go, We could use some of
the housing accelerator funds, perhaps to get another project moving.
Mr. Sweeney. Yeah. So through You Chair, Councillor McCabe, I'd
say, My standard answer to that is we are keeping
our ears close to the ground on every opportunity We
can find to bring additional resources to this community. I'm
aware of the original limitations to the housing accelerator fund.
In terms of eligibility, I don't have any new information
for you, but we'll certainly take that back under Advisement,
but I don't have anything I can comment here on
today. Okay. And then My last question Is just about
the two properties that you were asking about, like, potential
opportunities. I mean we'll have To get more information, but my sort
of initial reaction is that It would be better to
keep the public land in our public hands, because then
we actually can Control for a much longer period with
the actual affordability Of the housing units that are eventually
built there. But in the shorter time frame, because we
also have a need for an emergency shelter space, Is
that something that we would contemplate on either of those
sites? I don't know, Just the address well Enough
to know what else is around that Area. I don't
know what kind of neighbourhood it's near or anything like
that. But I do know we're looking for space, so
just wondered if that's a Possibility. Certainly. I'll take that
one. So, currently, it would not be in our plans
to consider Flipping one of these sites into emergency shelter.
That's not that we couldn't have That conversation. But that's
certainly not what we're contemplating. I do want to bring
back To council That at one of our previous budget
plan and budget meetings, we showed you a slide. Sorry.
We showed you a slide to outline The upcoming debt
load and debt servicing costs related, that is, related specifically
to these projects. So just to make sure that we're
connecting both of those. And so the recommendation that comes
forward before you today, and I want to thank Ryan
and team for being really specific and getting ahead Of
the question of, well, what might that look like? And
that was the examples. But you'll See The recommendation is
really giving us the direction to go and explore some
of those and One of the elements that we would
look at is, are there opportunities to reconsider or reprofile
While ensuring affordability, ensuring that we're meeting the targets and
the needs of the community. But they might also have
some positive financial benefit for the region in light of
the information that we shared with you today. So just
want to make sure that we're really clear what we're
asking and why. But to your specific point, we would
continue, Our first cut at this would be to continue
to look at this through the lens of adding affordable
Housing units As a sort of modality that we would
be delivering. Did you say you're going to move it
Councillor McCabe? Okay. Thank you. Chair Redman. Thank
you Chair Erb, I don't want to horn in on
seconding it but I'd be happy to. I think we all
would. I really appreciate The slide about the continuum housing.
I'm a visual learner, and that's really helpful to me.
I never hear any update from this whole department and
all the people in it that I'm not impressed. Councillor
McCabe I continue to lobby as a chair of this
region to access some of that funding that we were
not eligible for. I'm going to try to ask Councillor
Shantz's question in a different way, Just because she and
I have had many side conversations about this, and I'm
going to premise this By saying, when I look at
this continuum, To provide affordable housing, I know the answer
to all of this is we just need more. We
need more of everything on this continuum, and I get
that. I also get that we've been in budget deliberations,
and this is a really tough year, but if you
were able to look at people who find themselves unsheltered
for economic reasons alone, So people That don't have mental
health, people that don't have addictions issues, but people who
simply have fallen off the radar because they cannot afford.
To put a roof over their head, I don't know
if we have our arms around That number. I'm assuming
there is a gap because we don't have enough of
anything. But I'm wondering, what are the pinch points? Is
it money? Is it landlords That we can partner with?
What are the things that limit our ability to Identify
people who are unsheltered for reasons other than some of
the classic ones we talk about and how we would
move to filling that gap. It's a bit hypothetical, and
if you don't want to answer Ryan, you need To
know how happy Peter is every time he goes, over
to you, Ryan. Thanks for the question, chair. It's a
complex question. And it's a complex answer. Not to defer
too much of it, but it's what we're hoping to
Get at through the disaggregation and further analysis of the
point in time count Data. It's going to tell us
individual stories for those that completed this survey. And will
provide us Numbers program and policy solutions That will help
along the way. At this point in time, I don't
have a good sense of how many people or what
percentage of the homeless population, The economics situation alone, Would
pertain to, other than saying anybody that's in receipt of
social assistance currently right Now, it's completely inadequate in our
existing rental market. And if that's the majority income source
for the majority of people that are homeless, They're in
difficult economic circumstances. That's why the importance of affordable housing,
community housing, Rent supplements and supportive housing Are critical
all around. And yes, part of the trite Answer is
we need more Of all of those, the demand For
all of those types of housing in our community continues
to grow Exponentially and The cost of meeting all of
that, of course, are incredibly expensive as well. The costs
of not meeting all of those demands, We're also paying
an exorbitant price on as well. And if I could
just an observation, It's one of the reasons why it's
Very important In any milieu that we find ourselves as
public elected politicians to also advocate for raising ODSP and
OW. Because it's definitely a contributing factor to people living
precariously. Councillor Deutschmann, And then I want to remind committee,
it looks like we're starting on a second round of
questions. We still have some more work on this committee,
we still have SID, and then we have a hard
stop at 05:00. Councillor Deutschmann. Yeah. Thank you. Chair Erb. Just quickly, I just wanted to,
First of all, I wanted to congratulate Waterloo on
the great announcement with the Build Now and the work
you're doing up by RIM park there, and I'm just
Wondering It got me thinking. Are we working with build
now? Are they part of This in terms of what
we're looking at in terms of partnerships. And habitat for
humanity. Thanks. Mr. Pettipiere. Thanks for the question.
I know that some meetings have happened With the build
now group. I'm not aware of any specific project that
we have on The go. I'd say from our perspective,
With regards to our surplus lands, We'd be interested in
any partnership opportunity that presents itself, As well as potential
for the last two opportunities With our revitalization plan that
I mentioned earlier. And just a quick follow up, how
large is the land at Shelley and Courtland. Through You chair
the property that was discussing on the Courtland side, That's
not needed For our redevelopment Is 4.33 acres. Ok Thank you.
Councillor James.
Okay. Thank you. Through you chair I would like to
move a motion to call the question right now. Procedurally,
there's no debate on that, right? Just vote, okay. So
can we use your eScribe buttons to indicate your support
for this. So it was Moved by Councillor McCabe, seconded
by Chair Redman. No, that was part of your motion.
Sorry. I apologize. Okay. If you use the eScribe to
vote.
Okay, so this is to
call the question, correct?
Councillor Liggett, are you in favour of calling the
question? Thank you. Okay. Carried. Now we're back to the
original motion, moved by Councillor McCabe, seconded By chair
Redman.
Your showing as absent Councillor Wolf. Okay. And that's Carried.
And if I may, as chair, without being overruled, I
want to, thanks Ryan and team For all the work
on this, and particularly Amy and kristen. Around the slides
of tenant relocation engagement, I attended most of those meetings
that you had with these Various sites. The relocation of
these tenants is a massive, massive job other than just
building these buildings, and so thank you for the work
you did on that and the sensitivity which you
treated the people because We're basically uprooting where they're
living and moving them to other places. So thanks very
much for the work that you done on that part
of the file. We are on to item 7.1, Council
tracking list. There is nothing. Is there any other business?
The next meeting will be next year. January the 14th,
2025. Could I have a motion to adjourn? Moved by
Councillor McCabe. Seconded by Councillor Shantz. All those in favour?
Thumbs up from Councillor Liggett. Thank you.