Londoners Call for a State of Emergency Surrounding the Housing Crisis in London
(Image collected from CBC article, found here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/summit-gathers-london-s-top-sectors-to-find-supports-for-the-city-s-homeless-ahead-of-winter-1.6646908)
The City of London is experiencing a housing crisis. This issue becomes apparent when walking downtown, especially around Victoria Park and Richmond Street. Tents are set up on street corners, and people have set up outdoor living spaces all over the downtown area. The housing crisis in London has sparked many Londoners to create a petition to demand that the city council declare a state of emergency in London related to the housing crisis.
The London Regional Social Forum (LRSF) listed their reasoning for this drastic decision in several statistics that point to the harsh point that the housing crisis in London has reached. According to the LRSF, rent increased 36.9% in the city last year, with a 1% vacancy rate in rental homes. This statistic means that even though rent has increased drastically, only 1% of rental homes are vacant in the city, leaving people forced out of their apartments or rental houses because of rent increases with nowhere to go. Over 2 000 people in London are currently experiencing homelessness, and the LRSF further reports that 57 people died on the streets of London in the year 2022.
According to the LRSF, a state of emergency would allow London to access resources from the provincial and federal governments to curb this crisis and further help those in London experiencing homelessness. The petition to allow this to happen is currently at nearly 1 500 signatures. Paule Seale, a London man, commented why he signed, stating that “housing is a human right, and yet London is failing to house its citizens at almost any level of demand.” You can see the petition and commenters like Seale’s response at the link here.
However, only some on the city council support this petition. Josh Morgan, mayor of London, thinks that the petition would not be a step forward in helping those experiencing homelessness in London. “We wouldn’t be accessing any resources we can’t already access now,” he said in an interview with CTV London. Morgan also remarked that London is already acting as if the housing crisis is an emergency, so stating a declaration of it would not change anything. In pointing to resources to help those experiencing homelessness in London, he pointed to a summit on this issue that happened on December 15, 2022. According to Morgan, those who attended this summit worked on a “nationwide strategy” to aid the housing crisis in London. Josh Morgan was elected mayor of London this past October with a platform that mainly focused on London’s housing and narcotic crisis.
What can Brescia students do to help this crisis? Donating to various food banks around London (including the BUCSC’s food bank) is a step in the right direction. Brescia students can also organize groups to volunteer at soup kitchens to help feed those experiencing homelessness, such as Ark Aid Soup Kitchens, which operates right outside Victoria Park on Richmond Street. Additionally, Brescia students can carry around naloxone kits to help those struggling with narcotic abuse problems (which can commonly be associated with the housing crisis. For more information on naloxone kits and how to acquire them, see the Western Gazette’s article here).
Perhaps the most essential thing Brescia students can do, though, is to educate themselves. There are many negative stereotypes surrounding people experiencing homelessness, and there is a tendency to stop viewing them as people and instead as a nuisance. However, those experiencing homelessness in London are not just nuisances that block sidewalks but real people who have fallen into less-than-ideal circumstances because of the lack of support they receive from our city. For more information on becoming an ally to those experiencing homelessness, check out London Care’s information page here: https://londoncares.ca/become-an-ally/.