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REgion of Waterloo Council Meeting & Proposed BYLAW RE: 100 victoria
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Some elements included within this agenda:
14.2 Notice of Motion - Councillor P. Wolf, Referred Motion
(as cut/pasted from agenda on April 18, 2025)
Recommended Motion: WHEREAS the Ontario Superior Court has issued an injunction on Section 2 of the Community Care and Recovery Act, allowing Consumption and Treatment Services (CTS) sites to remain operational for 30 days beyond a Charter judgment; AND WHEREAS the Province of Ontario has indicated it will not support the court injunction granting a suspension of CTS closures in Kitchener, Guelph, and other locations; AND WHEREAS Waterloo Region’s only CTS site, located in Kitchener, is critical to saving lives and reducing harm among vulnerable constituents, as acknowledged by the court’s recognition of the high risk of death and injury to CTS clients should the site close; AND WHEREAS there has been no visible community or institutional support for eliminating CTS services from local councils, advisory committees, schools, churches, health professionals, business owners, or CTS clients; AND WHEREAS Section 3 of the Community Care and Recovery Act prohibits municipal support for consumption services without approval from the Ontario Minister of Health; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
22.10 By-law 25-021
(AKA 100 Victoria st. Bylaw) (as sourced from agenda on April 18, 2025)
Report: PDL-LEG-25-017, 100 Victoria Street, North, Kitchener – Site Specific By-law Appendix A - Site Specific By-Law A By-law Respecting the Use of 100 Victoria Street North, Kitchener (as Owned by The Regional Municipality of Waterloo) to facilitate the Kitchener Central Transit Hub and other Transit Development Appendix B - EES-SAM-24-002, Kitchener Central Update Appendix C - Moving forward on Kitchener Central Transit Hub: Site Specific By-law 22.10 By-law 25-021
Delegations
9.1 Chloe Young, Waterloo Re: Councillor P. Wolf Motion Re: Consumption and Treatment Services 9.2 Anne Loeffler, New Hamburg Re: Soil erosion issue on the Region's farm on Bleams Road 9.3 Krista Straus, New Hamburg Re: Wilmot Land Assembly 9.4 Sidney MacDonald, Kitchener Re: PDL-LEG-25-017, 100 Victoria Street, North, Kitchener – Site Specific By-law 9.5 Megan Walker, Kitchener Re: PDL-LEG-25-017, 100 Victoria Street, North, Kitchener – Site Specific By-law 9.6 Andrew Reeves, Kitchener Re: PDL-LEG-25-017, 100 Victoria Street, North, Kitchener – Site Specific By-law 9.7 David Alton, Social Development Centre of Waterloo Region Re: PDL-LEG-25-017, 100 Victoria Street, North, Kitchener – Site Specific By-law 9.8 Jacara Droog, Kitchener Re: PDL-LEG-25-017, 100 Victoria Street, North, Kitchener – Site Specific By-law 9.9 Heather Majaury, Kitchener Re: PDL-LEG-25-017, 100 Victoria Street, North, Kitchener – Site Specific By-law 9.10 Laura Pin, Wilfrid Laurier University Re: PDL-LEG-25-017, 100 Victoria Street, North, Kitchener – Site Specific By-law 9.11 John-Lee Bannister, Waterloo Re: PDL-LEG-25-017, 100 Victoria Street, North, Kitchener – Site Specific By-law 9.12 Héline Chow, Waterloo Re: PDL-LEG-25-017, 100 Victoria Street, North, Kitchener – Site Specific By-law 9.13 Lili Berescu, Waterloo Re: Councillor P. Wolf Motion Re: Consumption and Treatment Services 9.14 Ashley Schuitema, Waterloo Region Community Legal Services Re: PDL-LEG-25-017, 100 Victoria Street, North, Kitchener – Site Specific By-law 9.15 Jason Paul, Kitchener Re: PDL-LEG-25-017, 100 Victoria Street, North, Kitchener – Site Specific By-law 9.16 Laura Mosher, Kitchener Re: PDL-LEG-25-017, 100 Victoria Street, North, Kitchener – Site Specific By-law 9.17 Julian Ichim, Kitchener Re: PDL-LEG-25-017, 100 Victoria Street, North, Kitchener – Site Specific By-law 9.18 Erin Dej, Cambridge Re: PDL-LEG-25-017, 100 Victoria Street, North, Kitchener – Site Specific By-law 9.19 Meagan Snyder, Unsheltered Campaign Re: PDL-LEG-25-017, 100 Victoria Street, North, Kitchener – Site Specific By-law 9.20 Tara Jones, Waterloo Re: PDL-LEG-25-017, 100 Victoria Street, North, Kitchener – Site Specific By-law 9.21 Martin Asling, Waterloo Region Yes in My Backyard Re: PDL-LEG-25-017, 100 Victoria Street, North, Kitchener – Site Specific By-law 9.22 Shannon Down, Waterloo Re: PDL-LEG-25-017, 100 Victoria Street, North, Kitchener – Site Specific By-law 9.23 Pranav Seetharaman, Waterloo Re: PDL-LEG-25-017, 100 Victoria Street, North, Kitchener – Site Specific By-law |
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Related Information:
Nickels and dimes: Seeking Change
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Dear Region of Waterloo Council and
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The Unsheltered Campaign is a group of local community members who are housed and unhoused, and work with people experiencing unsheltered homelessness to advocate for change.
We are writing to ask you to reject the proposed “By-law Respecting the Use of 100 Victoria Street North, Kitchener”
Both the approach this bylaw represents, as well as the substance of the bylaw are harmful to people experiencing homelessness and sheltering at 100 Victoria and deeply concerning.
Continue Reading...
This bylaw was created in secret: it was put forward with no consultation with people living at 100 Victoria, and no engagement with service providers working with residents of 100 Victoria. Mechanisms exist for this engagement, including the Region’s own Plan to End Chronic Homelessness (PECH) Co-Creators’ table. Yet, the PECH Co-Creators table was not consulted. Nor did the Region engage directly with residents of 100 Victoria prior to developing this proposal. In fact, the bylaw was ‘announced’ to residents of 100 Victoria through the sudden deployment of police, heavy equipment and dumpsters to the site, with an absence of any communication or additional information. This is not a human- rights compliant, or trauma informed approach, and is inconsistent with the objectives of PECH, as approved by Council in Spring 2024.
The Region has also not sought direction from the courts as to the legality of this bylaw, given Justice Valente’s 2023 ruling, finding individuals had a Charter right to shelter at 100 Victoria provided that there were not sufficient and accessible shelter options. Since the court ruling, if anything the housing situation in the Region has become more dire. The limited information publicly released from the 2024 Point-in-Time (PiT) Count documented 2,371 individuals experiencing homelessness in Waterloo Region, an increase of over 1,000 since the 2021 PiT Count. In Dec 2024, Regional staff shared an estimate of 490 emergency shelter beds. Since this time, the Schwaben Club emergency shelter has closed, reducing the overall number of emergency shelter spaces locally. There are simply not enough emergency shelter spaces to accommodate individuals.
The staff report accompanying the bylaw proposes funding motel spaces for some residents of 100 Victoria, yet motels fail to offer an accessible, long-term option for housing. In this context, the bylaw likely contradicts Justice Valente’s ruling and will result in an expensive, protracted court case that will erode trust, foster division and divert needed resources that could be used to meaningfully address homelessness in our community.
The approach outlined in the bylaw will not work, and will criminalize survival activities of Residents of 100 Victoria and individuals providing aid. The proposed bylaw is out of touch with how people navigate being unhoused. It prohibits anyone who was not present on April 16, 2025 from residing at 100 Victoria, a condition which is unnecessarily restrictive and will be impossible to enforce. The bylaw also proposes fines of up to $5,000 for individuals residing at 100 Victoria who move their structures without permission to another part of the lot, say to avoid flooding or hazards, or for greater privacy (Sec. 6). The bylaw outlines a process for progressively “kettling” or fencing in 100 Victoria while people are still residing there (Sec. 8), as well as criminalizes individuals providing survival materials to 100 Victoria, as “carrying any goods, without authorization, which are offensive... inconvenience, cause discomfort or injure any person” is subject to a $5,000 fine (Appendix B). A community member has included more information about concerns with this bylaw here.
Instead of approving this flawed and inhumane bylaw, we are asking you to consider one of the following options:
As Regional Councillors you have the power to propose a better plan for 100 Victoria moving forward, and we implore you to use it.
Sincerely,
The Unsheltered Campaign
The Region has also not sought direction from the courts as to the legality of this bylaw, given Justice Valente’s 2023 ruling, finding individuals had a Charter right to shelter at 100 Victoria provided that there were not sufficient and accessible shelter options. Since the court ruling, if anything the housing situation in the Region has become more dire. The limited information publicly released from the 2024 Point-in-Time (PiT) Count documented 2,371 individuals experiencing homelessness in Waterloo Region, an increase of over 1,000 since the 2021 PiT Count. In Dec 2024, Regional staff shared an estimate of 490 emergency shelter beds. Since this time, the Schwaben Club emergency shelter has closed, reducing the overall number of emergency shelter spaces locally. There are simply not enough emergency shelter spaces to accommodate individuals.
The staff report accompanying the bylaw proposes funding motel spaces for some residents of 100 Victoria, yet motels fail to offer an accessible, long-term option for housing. In this context, the bylaw likely contradicts Justice Valente’s ruling and will result in an expensive, protracted court case that will erode trust, foster division and divert needed resources that could be used to meaningfully address homelessness in our community.
The approach outlined in the bylaw will not work, and will criminalize survival activities of Residents of 100 Victoria and individuals providing aid. The proposed bylaw is out of touch with how people navigate being unhoused. It prohibits anyone who was not present on April 16, 2025 from residing at 100 Victoria, a condition which is unnecessarily restrictive and will be impossible to enforce. The bylaw also proposes fines of up to $5,000 for individuals residing at 100 Victoria who move their structures without permission to another part of the lot, say to avoid flooding or hazards, or for greater privacy (Sec. 6). The bylaw outlines a process for progressively “kettling” or fencing in 100 Victoria while people are still residing there (Sec. 8), as well as criminalizes individuals providing survival materials to 100 Victoria, as “carrying any goods, without authorization, which are offensive... inconvenience, cause discomfort or injure any person” is subject to a $5,000 fine (Appendix B). A community member has included more information about concerns with this bylaw here.
Instead of approving this flawed and inhumane bylaw, we are asking you to consider one of the following options:
- Do not remove the encampment from 100 Victoria and explore other ways for the Region to meet its obligations to Metrolinx.
- Work with people at 100 Victoria to designate an alternative location for camping, that is mutually acceptable and in close proximity to necessary services, with the same legal protections as 100 Victoria.
- Refer the issue back to the Plan to End Chronic Homelessness (PECH) Co-Creators table and direct this table, which includes people who work directly with residents of 100 Victoria and lived experts, to create an alternate plan to meet the Region’s needs for the property, using the budget associated with the proposed bylaw.
As Regional Councillors you have the power to propose a better plan for 100 Victoria moving forward, and we implore you to use it.
Sincerely,
The Unsheltered Campaign
We invite everyone to join us tomorrow at the Regional Council of Waterloo meeting where community advocates will speak about the supervised consumption services and our Executive Director will delegate regarding the proposed by-law for the 100 Victoria St. encampment.
— WRLegalServices (@wrlegalservices.bsky.social) April 22, 2025 at 3:35 PM
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