Hamilton’s tiny shelters delayed as councillors seek report on ‘suitable’ locations

It’s looking less likely that a community of tiny shelters for Hamilton’s homeless population will be ready to go in time for the winter.

The Hamilton Alliance for Tiny Shelters (HATS) had been hoping councillors would agree to provide $300,000 in funding to establish the cabins in an empty lot on Barton Street East, starting in mid-January.

But that decision has been deferred until a January meeting, which is later than the original rollout date for the community of cabins.

Staff are being asked to look at how the Barton lot compares with other sites also proposed by the alliance, given pushback from residents who say they weren’t given enough time to provide feedback.

A long list of delegates spoke at a city meeting Thursday, including many opposed to the currently proposed Barton Street East site, saying they weren’t consulted on that spot.

Brenda Duke of the Gibson and Lansdale Community Planning Team told the emergency and community services committee (ECS) she “applauds the initiative” but has concerns over it being “a temporary fix” to a citywide problem.

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Gibson, a Ward 3 resident, said her community has been working “to get past” being evaluated as “code red” area in 2021 – a designation defined by a series of Hamilton Spectator articles identifying gaps in life expectancy.

“So we’re asking you to wait. Let us fine-tune the project and support it and put it where it will do the most good,” Duke said.

“Let us keep our homes and let our businesses thrive on a revitalizing commercial corridor.”

Executive director of Wesley Urban Ministries Don Seymour, which partners with HATS, told councillors the group did its research and he’s never seen a volunteer group “dot so many I’s and cross so many T’s.”

“They’ve liaised with politicians, they’ve done extensive interviews with people of lived experience … that are so extensive, I haven’t seen it before in a group outside of our own organizations,” Seymour explained.

Ward 3 Coun. Nrinder Nann suggested city staff “lend a hand” with a report that evaluates other suitable sites identified by delegates during the committee meeting, including the former Sir John A. Macdonald school site and Scout House on James Street.

“I saw a number of other things in the ‘nice to haves’ that I believe can be more easily accommodated than on a tiny little plot that’s been generously donated by a private landowner that is butting up against residential homes and a commercial corridor that is … trying to pick up its legs.”

The ECS committee voted five to one to defer the initiative and is expected to revisit the matter Jan. 19, 2023.