Council moves to allow shelters across urban and suburban Ottawa

Ottawa city councillors have passed a motion to accelerate the loosening of zoning rules for shelters in all but rural communities, despite a few holdouts on council who worry about stifling public dissent. 

The new comprehensive zoning bylaw is already moving in that direction. But many councillors worried about waiting until the fall to make a change that would help the city respond to a housing and homelessness crisis. 

"Our last point-in-time count shows that there's 3,000 people experiencing homelessness in the city. That includes people from every single corner of the city, from Barrhaven, from Orléans, from Nepean, from everywhere you could possibly imagine," said Somerset Coun. Ariel Troster during Wednesday's council meeting. 

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Staff told her they're also keeping an eye on the Canada-U.S. border, in case the re-election of President Donald Trump prompts a new wave of asylum seekers. 

"This is a terrifying time for so many people, and it will create immense pressure on our systems," Troster warned.

The change will allow shelters to bypass an administrative process that's at times both lengthy and expensive, according to Kitchissippi Coun. Jeff Leiper. He brought forward this motion with the support of staff.

Sharing the load

When the issue was debated at the planning and housing committee last week, Barrhaven East Coun. Wilson Lo failed in an attempt to gain an exclusion for suburbs like his.  

"I get it, right? Council did declare a housing emergency last term and truthfully, yes, every community should shoulder its load," he told CBC after the meeting.

"I personally still disagree with the policy of using shelters as a way to house people. We should be moving to actual housing. And I think communities like Barrhaven have already stepped up."

Lo said areas that were on the short list for a welcoming centre for asylum seekers and migrants are particularly sensitive to this issue. 

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The motion does not apply to that project, but Lo said his residents worry about a lack of transparency. 

"This becomes an issue of trust between our residents and the city when they don't feel heard, and we've seen clear examples of this over the past year," Barrhaven West Coun. David Hill added when the discussion came to council.

Crisis happening everywhere 

Leiper responded by saying people who come out to meetings to attempt to block shelters often leave disappointed. 

"The decision of that planning meeting is going to have to make is a really black and white decision," he said, explaining that councillors have to follow policies laid out in the city's official planning documents that support the creation of shelters. 

Sometimes those discussions become aggressive or even racist, according to Kaite Burkholder Harris with Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa. 

"They've become a referendum on who gets to live in a neighborhood," she told councillors earlier this month. "We can't keep having this conversation every time a new build for affordable housing comes, when the need is so great."

Kale Brown, Ottawa's manager of homelessness programs and shelters, said the city's duty to consult has to be balanced with the scale of the project and the ongoing emergency.

In the end, only Lo, Hill and Riverside South-Findlay Creek Coun. Steve Desroches voted against the motion. Staff said the shelter rules should be amended before summer.