Neighbourhood reacts to H4 site location
Neighbours of 700 Wellington Ave. aren’t vehemently opposed to the new site of the Homelessness and Housing Help Hub (H4).
“They're people like anybody else and they need somewhere to be,” one resident said, not wanting to use her name or image on television.
It’s a sentiment shared by many in the area of Wellington Avenue and Elliott Street, where the city plans to build H4, but there are some who are not overjoyed by the announcement.
“I have lived here for 40 years,” said a woman named Pat while calling in to the Morning Drive on AM800. “I am so used to councils ignoring us. We don't exist.”
Ward 2 Coun. Fabio Costante said there were other sites that didn't require expropriation, including a site already owned by the city.
“I respect the will of council and the decision that council makes. We could have re-directed the money to actually building housing that we needed yesterday. This is a problem in our community that is growing in nature,” Costante said.
Residents say there are homeless people who already wander the neighbourhood.
“I see them walking by here with bags and carts and I feel so bad for them,” one resident said, who also withheld her identity.
She said residents dig through the garbage and their recyclables but don't cause any problems.
“When they build this place we're going to have hundreds, if not more. Then what's going to happen?” she asked.
She’s worried crime could spike.
It’s a concern shared by a local business owner who already deals with that problem.
“We have concerns about our safety,” said Farhan Katlin, partner of F.S.K. Furniture on Wyandotte Street East, which is a stone’s throw away from the site.
Owners worry issues will amplify with H4 in their backyard.
“If the city is doing something about the safety of the nearby people I'm absolutely fine with it,” Katlin said.
Ward 3 Coun. Renaldo Agostino, who lives in the core, said the congregating he sees downtown will not carry over to H4.
“It's all about building it for the right cost, with the right people and with the right purpose in mind,” Agostino said. “Not stuffing people into a gymnasium and expecting to see results. That's part of the problem.”
Agostino feels the new location will help temper drug peddling, “There's not going to be a situation where the community has to worry about the predators going to take advantage of these poor people that are trying to recover. That won't happen here.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
ANALYSIS Will Donald Trump go to prison? What the precedent says
Now that the jury in Donald Trump's criminal trial has made the historic decision to convict him, the judge overseeing the case will soon face a monumental choice: whether to sentence the 2024 Republican presidential candidate to time behind bars.
A pair enjoyed pricey meals and bolted when it was time to pay. Their dine and dash ended in jail
A Welsh couple who dined out on pricey meals and bolted when the bill came is now paying the price, behind bars.
The northern lights are returning to night skies across Canada this Friday
If you missed the brilliant displays of the aurora borealis over North America on May 10, you may have another chance to see them on Friday night.
Montreal tech billionaire charged with several sex offences
Robert Miller was charged Thursday with several sexual assault charges after Montreal police reopened an investigation into the tech billionaire.
Can Trump come to Canada now that he's a convicted felon?
A Canadian immigration lawyer says now that Donald Trump is a convicted felon, he is technically barred from crossing the border into Canada.
Liberal government's own polling said Canadians worried about drug decriminalization
Months before British Columbia sought to scale back its drug decriminalization pilot project, the federal government's own polling suggested to officials that a majority of Canadians believed the policy would lead to an increase in overdoses.
Loblaw testing out small-format No Frills grocery stores
Loblaw is testing smaller-format discount stores across the country this year as shoppers increasingly look for ways to save on their grocery bill.
Doomsday plot: Jury convicts Idaho man of killing wife and girlfriend's 2 children
An Idaho man was convicted Thursday of killing his wife and his new girlfriend's two youngest kids in a strange triple murder case that included claims of apocalyptic prophesies, zombie children and illicit affairs.
'Why didn't they stop?' Mom asks of driver in hit-and-run crash that killed son
The mother of a 13-year-old boy who was killed in a hit-and-run in Edmonton is begging the driver to come forward.