Homelessness agency fears ‘humanitarian crisis’ if city hall strictly enforces proposed Good Neighbour Clause in new funding contracts

Frontline homeless agencies are concerned about a ‘good neighbour clause.’ As CTV’s Daryl Newcombe reports, it will be considered at city hall next week.

Some frontline homelessness agencies are sounding the alarm about a draft Good Neighbour Clause (GNC) that might be added to future funding contracts with London city hall.

“There are so many things that we already do to be good neighbours,” explained Chris Moss, executive director at London Cares. “This just takes it to a level that creates a lot of harm, creates a lot of blame towards the social services agencies.”

In December, Council directed city staff to prepare a draft agreement for consideration at next week’s meeting of the Community and Protective Services (CAPS) Committee.

The GNC requirements would include:

• Maintaining sites and site perimeters in clean and safe conditions

• Establishing a Community Liaison Committee which will meet quarterly

• Developing a complaints process

• Maintaining a site-specific security plan

• Creating a Good Neighbour Plan with timelines and standards for response

However, the staff report also advises that GNCs, “… become contractual obligations, subject to remedies for breach such as termination or non-renewal.”

Terminating contracts could result in fewer services for unhoused Londoners or even threaten the existence of some frontline agencies.

“We have 30,000 interactions per month here at 602 Queens Ave., thousands of interactions every single day in our outreach department, and 40 people living at House of Hope. If London Cares didn’t exist because it lost its contracts, I believe we would be in a humanitarian crisis,” warns Moss.

At Ark Aid Street Mission, Executive Director Sarah Campbell believes some fundamental questions about the policy have not been answered, “How broad is the scope of this, and what makes a good neighbour?”

Campbell emphasized that The Ark already works with its neighbours when concerns are raised and complies with municipal by-laws.

She suggests the additional costs associated with the proposed GNC would divert vital funding from frontline services, “How much will it cost to do the work? And how does that take away from the services that we are asked to provide in our community?”

“When we see homelessness numbers increasing, it’s not the time to add more layers of bureaucracy,” added Moss.

Coun. Susan Stevenson first proposed drafting the GNC at a meeting in December.

She asserted that terminating contracts is not the intent.

“No, not at all. I don’t see that we would ever terminate a contract over a good neighbour agreement,” Stevenson told CTV News.

She pointed to some other frontline agencies that she believes are already good neighbours, “At the Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU) shelter downtown we don’t have congregation issues. We don’t have complaints about garbage and open drug use right outside. So lets figure out what they are doing that can be embraced by some of the other shelters.”

The staff report raises questions about the enforceability of the GNC, “Vague language in these provisions can lead to disputes over interpretation; for example, what constitutes ‘clean and safe conditions’ or a ‘reasonable perimeter’ may vary between the City, service providers and other community members.”

It also emphasizes that provincial and federal funding programs would not cover some of the costs incurred by agencies to adhere to a GNC, and senior governments would not fund municipal compliance.

Moss believes blame is being misplaced for the neighbourhood impacts of homelessness, “People want to punish social services locally for what is actually a province-wide systemic crisis.”

The Community and Protective Services Committee will consider a Good Neighbour Clause on Jan. 26.