Community Safety and Well-Being Plan

City Council, Police Boards, School Boards, and other places of power are representative of the community they serve.

None of the places of power in our city are representative of the communities they serve. There is a long history of power hoarding in this city and intentional ignoring of marginalized communities and communities living in poverty. Social services have been left to non-profit agencies who are underfunded and under supported, while outlying, privileged suburbs receive updated infrastructure and services. Gentrification without intentional planning for affordable housing continues to compound the issues of crime and poverty across the city. When the necessary voices are not in a place to be heard or have influence, it is easy for councilors to ignore the needs of the most vulnerable. The homeless, the hidden homeless, and those of low socio economic status are all part of our community, yet we continually use the police enforcement to ensure they have no place rather than listening to their concerns and addressing their needs. Our Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, LGTBQ+, and disabled citizens are part of our community, yet our city policies do not reflect this. Systemic Racism is so embedded in the Hamilton culture and there is a refusal to acknowledge this issue. Our marginalized citizenry is not safe and are victimized by the highest levels of power in Hamilton every day. Until there is representation and acknowledgment of the pervasive biases reflected in the current places of power, this city will never feel safe to all of its citizens.

Make sure all the lights are lit along walking path, leave park bathrooms open and gender neutral.

Involving all areas of the city in planning processes

Putting higher paid positions in the shoes of lower paid postions

Supporting local businesses to help them thrive

Access to health care and resources needed

Education and promoting cross cultural community building

People and institutions with power need to be educated on hate crimes, micro aggressions and how they/their institutions are part of systemic issues. More should be done to build bridges across communities to decrease racism/homophobia/ableism before it even begins. Individual community members could be educated through mail outs, community events, etc.

Remove the school trustee board members who were confirmed to have made racist comments/posts. We need our leaders to be setting an example.

hate needs to be taken seriously in all forms. mandatory equity and anti-oppression training for all city employees (especially police)

Punishment for the Crime

Stricter measures to be put in place for all people in government, city, or community leadership as to what is a hate crime and what will happen if one is committed with fast and strict measures if one is committed.

Uphold higher standards for leadership

Leaders of our community need to be empowered to uphold a standard of social inclusion and to take a stand against hate whenever they see it. They also need to be held accountable when they do not model a spirit of inclusivity and equity. Hate has no place in Hamilton, and hate crimes need to be addressed by our city, not just buried.

Courts support Police! Seems so many problems are from repeat offenders or those out on Probation! The HPS must feel that their hands tied!

reducing income inequality (e.g. universal basic income, adequate welfare), decriminalization of drugs would decrease cycles of crime&prison

Better collaboration and community support to reduce recidivism

We can do better to support people coming out of correctional institutions to support them with housing, income security, employment and addictions concerns. This will reduce recidivism and give the whole community hope.

Offer City resources to support the growth of Restorative Justice programs in Hamilton

Offer start-up grants, office space or whatever is needed by those who would offer RJ programs. Review the leadership of Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council and Community Justice Initiatives and seek their guidance on emulating their work in Hamilton.

Better and free access to mental health services. Put people in jail longer when they’ve committed crimes of violence.

Police should not attempt a mental health related interaction without the presence of a medical professional.

Police officers are trained to ensure the public's compliance through escalating threats and application of violence. These escalation based methods often do not work well with someone experiencing a mental health crisis. Where there are reasonable grounds to suspect someone is undergoing a mental health crisis, the police should avoid interaction until a qualified medical professional is on the scene.

A more robust program to address mental health crises

The police force is constantly being sent in to deal aggressively and violently with mental health issues. They are not properly trained and do not know how to de escalate these scenarios. We need multiple teams of mental health experts that can be sent in to de escalate and provide specialized care to our community members with mental health challenges.

Resources

Better access to resources for all people and to awareness of where these resources are located for people to access.

Advocation and Awareness

More awareness about the types of mental health disorders that people can have and where they are able to get help. Awareness to end the stigma around all types of mental health disorders and to encourage people who may need help to seek it.

We need to rethink ways to get treatment to those who need it but are deemed competent. Legislative changes and different, firm approaches.

make it mandatory for developers to have to include a percentage of apartments or condos to be affordable to lower income

build affordable & supportive housing ASAP - change bylaws to permit modular housing

Update bylaws and allow/sustain encampments

We do not have enough affordable housing in the city. Encampments are a natural outcome. We cannot keep destroying people's attempts at surviving when shelters are constantly at capacity. We need to update bylaws to allow affordable housing asap and allow and support existing encampments.

Improve transit and make city employees work remotely to reduce demand for parking downtown, build affordable housing instead of parking.

With more extensive and long term remote work policies, land that is currently used for parking could be used for affordable housing downtown, where many social support services would already be in walking distance.

Limit amount of rentals per an owner/investment group to make home ownership a level playing field

There should a limit on the number of homes a person can own for rental purposes, and even in investment groups the number home homes should be limited to one per a house hold, ( so a both spouses in a household could only own one income property combined not one each) and (only one per house hold in an investment group eg. even if husband and wife were in two separate investment groups only one could own a rental property) this would help keep home prices affordable by flattening demand and help make home ownership attainable to more people.

Interim support for those who ‘fall through the cracks.’

Many people cannot access existing income supports at federal and provincial levels because they do not qualify, have used up their entitlements, are waiting long timeframes for decisions to be reached, or do not have the tools to navigate complex processes. The city needs to make interim income and social support available so people do not fall through the cracks and have to face eviction, hunger, family separation or unnecessary hardships.

Connect individuals to valuable resources - "You don't know what you don't know”

Income - regular work, part-time work, gig work, EI, social services, etc - how do we help get access to the right supports when that income is gone? It is often difficult to access financial supports when a job is lost, benefits end, families separate, or illness occurs. Just telling someone to apply for EI, OSAP, job retraining, ODSP or Ontario Works isn’t always enough. Not everyone qualifies, and sometimes we need to do more than just point, or tell someone to look at an unclear website, but instead EXPLAIN why and how. Some individuals or families are just past the cut-off threshold for support yet are struggling to pay for their home, food or transportation. Then what? What happens when individuals are unsure of WHAT questions to ask or WHO to ask to get access to a resource or service. Anyone can fall through the cracks because someone tells them NO and they don't know where to go next. This applies to youth and adults of all ages; educated or not, experienced or not - if someone tells you No, how many people just stop in their tracks? Then add in barriers. If individuals do not have family or community supports, do not feel safe, struggle with physical or mental health challenges, feel marginalized or racialized, will they push forward or feel that no one will listen? Why make individuals work so hard just to get the information they need? Most would help a friend learn about resources when they ask, so why not help our community? Create a "Resource Person" role within our city to help guide all individuals to the services they need. Make the role accessible virtually, over the phone or in person. This is not a social services worker or reception role, but a person who can actively assist individuals to learn how to access resources or services. We also need to consider how much work or how many "clicks" it takes to access a resource, and if it is accessible or clear to everyone. By providing a clearer path we can help individuals get to where they WANT to be, not where they end up.

Transit schedules that connect you to jobs

Hamilton has a lot of good jobs just not accessible by bus or practical by bus Invest in transit to make it easier to get to work. A lot of buses don't connect. and you spend a lot of your commute time waiting for buses. It's impossible to plan a trip in the east end where buses actually connect . you end up waiting half hour+ because the bus your on, missed the connect bus by 2 mins . After working 12hrs and its -20 i cant explain the stress.

UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME

The research was being done and everything points to UBI being beneficial for society as whole. Implement it and it will help a lot of the issues that you're trying to address with this engagement.

Support for a Universal Basic Income and equitable access to post secondary education

Access to adequate income is a symptom of a much larger systemic problem. The City needs to actively join the voices of social services and citizens calling for the Provincial and Federal Government to step up and provide a universal basic income. Families works several jobs and still can't make ends meet. "Pulling up the boot straps" and working more is not a solution to earning more. Whether an individual is supported by Ontario Works or multiple jobs, they do not have the supports they need to meet their needs. OW perpetuates a cycle that is nearly impossible to get out of permanently. The City must champion our low-socioeconomic status citizens to our provincial and federal government for a Universal Basic Income. The Federal Government determined that people need a minimum of $2000 per month to pay basic expenses. This still falls short considering the cost of rent and food in our city. It is impossible in this forum to go into all of the nuances of how the current social support system is oppressive and prohibits people from getting out but here are a few points; - Being forced to take out enormous loans to attend post secondary school is prohibitive. The cost of school is not the only barrier facing those who cannot afford tuition. Equitable solutions that ensure people have a safe place to live, reliable transportation to campus, food, and mental health supports is just the beginning. However the income gap between those who have post secondary and those who do not is enormous and telling. - When leaving the OW system for employment, people are forced to take jobs that do not provide medical benefits, sick time, or vacation. These "privileges" are necessary for success for those suffering from mental health and addiction. Eventually, low income jobs cause loss of home, lack of adequate food to keep working, and stopping expensive medications that manage mental health conditions. They are also exploited by employers who threaten to fire them if they take sick time due to mental health. - The traveling necessary to find and maintain work in the city is prohibitive. Spending hours on buses to get to interviews or to get to work shifts on time is expensive and leaves no time for the other supports necessary to their wellbeing such as counselling appointments, methadone clinics, A.A. meetings, psychiatrist appointments, doctors appointments, etc. -Accessing subsidised or affordable child care is nearly impossible and often results in traveling an hour in one direction to drop a child off, then travelling an hour in another direction to get to work. Then parents feel stressed about getting to pick up their child on time and punished when they can't because of transit. - Those who have multiple jobs spend time traveling between jobs, balancing the demands of multiple exploitive bosses, and experience significant health issues resulting from long term stress and neglect of health/mental health. People generally want to work and contribute to their communities in meaningful ways. Ensuring they can work and earn enough to support themselves, increases their capacity to contribute and reduces their reliance on emergency rooms, social services, etc. Again, the research is there. We just choose to ignore it. Canada is not the only country that studied this project.