It has been wonderful to see churches in London stand up and declare that outreach to people living on the street is at the heart of their mission and integral to their ways of doing worship. And there is no doubt Ark Aid Street Mission is doing critical work, meeting needs which are not being adequately addressed.
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Equally encouraging has been the number of Londoners calling for City Hall to sit down with business owners, church ministers, and social agencies to find adequate solutions to the current situation. Such a dialogue would be more complicated than simply slapping a church with a bylaw infraction, but one hopes it would yield more fruit – and certainly more justice.
At the same time, the current situation begs the question: What is the city’s plan for ensuring the wellbeing of the estimated 300 people who live outdoors? How might the city’s budget surplus of $14 million come into play? How can we better support the critical work of social agencies in the city? And might we, as Londoners and City Hall together, advocate to the provincial government to use the $7.2 billion it budgeted, but didn’t spend (and indeed to add to this total) to boost programs such as OW and ODSP, mental health services, and affordable housing so we’re actually addressing some of root causes of homelessness?
-Sister Sue Wilson, Office for Systemic Justice