An exciting time over at The Station yesterday (Sept. 29) as Indwell officially opened their second supportive housing project on Queen Street in St. Thomas.
But it went a step further as Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health announced close to $1.2 million in operational funding.
The money will be used for rent supplements along with mental health and addiction support services at the 45-unit housing project.
In March of last year, the province provided $3 million to help build 20 supportive housing units in The Station.
That money was delivered through the Social Services Relief Fund.
Owned and operated by Indwell Community Homes, The Station provides housing and services to those 18 and older with mental health addiction issues and experiencing housing instability.
Monthly Archives: September 2023
MPP Rob Flack asserts his ‘experience and leadership’ earned him associate housing minister post
At the beginning of the month, Premier Doug Ford announced changes to his cabinet, precipitated by the resignation of Steve Clark who had served as Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.
Paul Calandra was installed as the new Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Rob Flack was promoted to Associate Minister of Housing with a mandate on attainable housing and modular homes.
Clark had been at the heart of the Greenbelt development scandal, in which it was found he had violated ethics outlines included in the Members’ Integrity Act.
We caught up with Flack a week after his appointment to discuss his new role, however, there have been substantial developments since then.
Specifically on Thursday, Ford pulled off a complete turnaround on his plan to open up protected Greenbelt lands for residential development.
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As the city readies for rapid expansion, the St. Thomas Strategic Plan is in line for a ‘refresh’
At Monday’s (Sept. 18) council meeting, members will receive an update on the city’s Strategic Plan which covers the period 2021 through this year.
The plan was originally adopted by city council in May of 2013.
The city engaged the services of Fanshawe Corporate Training Solutions in June 2019 to assist in a plan update.
At that time, the idea was to develop a short list of strategic themes for the city’s path forward.
This included a focus group of community stakeholders and a public and city staff survey which included 539 respondents and produced a list of 25 key themes.
In June of 2020 that was whittled down to the Top 10 strategic priorities.
Topping the list was infrastructure, including roads, bridges and sewers.
The Number 2 priority was emergency shelters for the homeless.
And, rounding out the Top 3 was affordable housing.
Moving forward three years, let’s look at today’s updated strategic plan.
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St. Thomas area growth triggers major realignment of roads and highways
Preliminary design work is now underway on a massive infrastructure project between St. Thomas and Talbotville.
The undertaking involves three stages: the twinning of Hwy. 3 through St. Thomas to Ron McNeil Line; a new Hwy. 3 alignment that will bypass Talbotville; and the widening of Hwy. 4 from the new Talbotville bypass north to Clinton Line.
No doubt, in part, this is to accommodate traffic into and out of the Volkswagen EV battery plant scheduled to open in 2027 although it is not feasible that this will be fully completed by then.
The Ministry of Transportation has not indicated a tentative completion date at this time.
They have not made anyone available who will go on the record to speak about the work.
On two occasions when approached about further information, they forwarded details of the Hwy. 3 widening near Essex.
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Two-wheeling your way from mural to mural in St. Thomas and discovering ‘captivating works of art tucked away in the most unexpected corners of your city’
Some days the news assignments are just so easygoing and a pleasure to undertake. They get you outdoors on a gorgeous late summer day when the task at hand seems more fun than work.
Such was the case yesterday (Friday) when I scooted downtown . . . no, sorry that should read scootered downtown with Andrew Gunn and Maddie King of young & free press/Andrew Gunn Consulting.
Earlier this month, in collaboration with the Elgin County Railway Museum, they launched ArtRail Biking Tours which will operate Fridays and Saturdays through to the end of September.
On the guided tours, you will discover colourful murals tucked away in the most unexpected corners of the city.
Best of all you do it in fun, eco-friendly fashion on a motorized scooter or electric bike.
It takes no more than about 20 seconds to get the knack of riding one of the scooters and then the city and its artwork are yours to explore.
