Ward 2 city councillor Fabio Costante will be presenting a petition at an upcoming city council meeting on behalf of residents upset with the proposed location of the permanent Homelessness and Housing Help Hub.
Costante attended a meeting Thursday night at Wilson Park that was put on be area residents, who are concerned with the city's decision to locate the H4 in the 700-block of Wellington Avenue near Wyandotte Street West.
He says residents asked him to attend the meeting and he talked about the history, background into the H4 model and council's deliberations over the last few years.
"They expressed a lot of concern, a lot of fear and so they had a lot of questions as well and some of them were good questions," he says. "So we had a good dialogue for the balance of the evening."
Costante says the residents were passionate.
"Some folks were really upset and angry that the location was being purposed at where it is and I think most, if not all the folks that were there signed a petition that they asked me to present to the city clerk," says Costante.
He says he knew a lot of residents at the meeting and believes it was a good discussion.
"I think folks want to stay in the loop," he says. "So I think there's going to be a Facebook group started at some point in the near future. I think folks are going to want to have to meet again and stay in the loop on the progress of this proposed location site."
Back in April, mayor Drew Dilkens announced the H4 will be located in the 700-block of Wellington Avenue.
At that time, the mayor said the city reviewed more than 200 sites after issuing an expression of interest in January 2023.
The seven acre site is expected to include enough space to develop at least 64 one-bedroom permanent supportive housing units, common spaces for programming, services, and other amenities.
Since the announcement, Costante has been vocal expressing his opposition of the proposed H4 site.
The site on Wellington is in ward 3 but neighbours Costante's ward 2.
