How times have changed.
Mayor of Belleville Neil Ellis delivered the annual State of the City address to the Chamber of Commerce Wednesday morning and described how things were in his previous terms as mayor from 2006 to 2014 compared to the present day.
“Back on my previous councils we had a successful doctor recruitment program, no homelessness to speak of and lots of industrial land.
This time around we still have a successful recruitment program but the demand for healthcare services is much higher, we have a growing homelessness situation which has become a major problem and we don’t have any more industrial land.”
The mayor spent a lot of time during his wide-ranging speech discussing housing, affordable housing, and homelessness.
He stressed that all levels of government had to build more geared-to-income housing because what the government believes is affordable housing means rent for a one bedroom apartment could still be $1,200 a month.
” … and people just can’t afford that. I ran into a guy the other day who said a good friend of his was evicted on a renoviction and his income was just $2,000 a month. Well he’s living in a tent right now.”
Ellis said the homelessness population in Belleville is now over 200 and council’s declaration of a state of emergency after a spate of drug overdoses in February put the problem of homelessness and addiction front and centre.
“We put the province and the federal government on notice because these kinds of problems aren’t municipal responsibilities.” He said the national media attention forced action, especially from the provincial government, to do something.
“I’ve been promised money to support the operation of a services hub, money to build and operate a detox centre, and money for more social housing. Let’s hope the government follows through although we all know that politicians lie from time to time.” That drew hearty laughter from the packed house of almost 200 people at The Grand.
The province is making Belleville a model for what the government believes is the best way to help the homeless and addicted, that being a three-pronged approach involving basic immediate services such as food, shelter, and mental health/addictions services, a detox centre for those who are drug-addicted, and affordable housing for people to live in providing the stability needed to return to a productive life.
Ellis said basic services such as a warming centre and food are not enough and the entire “continuum of care” model is the only successful solution.
Meanwhile the mayor defended his council’s decision to invest over $4 million into the purchase and renovation of the former Alhambra Banquet Centre.
That building will become The Bridge, an integrated services hub serving the growing homeless population seven days a week, 24 hours a day.
Ellis said the current facility at Bridge Street United is not big enough, it’s in the wrong location and is hurting economic development prospects referring to the former Hotel Quinte property and proposed condos there.
“You know let’s be honest. Who’s going to buy one there when you have a centre (for homeless) and that’s the unfortunate thing. We’ve had interest in the Intelligencer building. We helped out with brownfield (environmental) studies at our last council meeting so we have a couple of entrepreneurs who are looking at that for condos also.”
As far as the housing shortage in general, the mayor said council’s decision this year to invest $55 million into water/sewer infrastructure from Avonlough Road running east and north to Bell Boulevard will allow 10,000 more residential units of a mixed variety over the next 25 years, providing housing for another 20,000 people in the city.
The six-acre former Queen Mary school in the west end is drawing attention from developers and a tender package is almost ready for them to bid on. Ellis said five acres will will be available for housing, including affordable, geared-to-income, and market rental units. One idea being proposed is medium-rise apartment buildings along with townhouses. One acre of the property will be set aside for a park
And Ellis had high praise for the city’s Manager of Physician Recruitment and Retention Karen Poste.
Neil Ellis said that since the physician recruitment program began, 46 new medical professionals had signed on.
In the past month alone, four new doctors have been recruited and a handful of candidates are very interested in the program.
The city is also providing incentives to Nurse Practitioners and is offering scholarships to Loyalist College nursing students.
Council has also tweaked its recruitment policy allowing it to offer incentives to specialists and not just general practitioners. This was done in cooperation with Quinte Health who have been working for some time to attract specialists to its four hospitals.
“It grew to not only a 35,000 square foot building to accessory barns, riding stables, and just a lot more infrastructure.”
And lest we forget. There was no news on Costco.
It was a packed house at The Grand for the State of the City address. (Photo: Quinte News)
