THUNDER BAY – The decision to build a shelter village at 114 Miles St. East could easily be upheld or defeated Monday.
On July 14, city council approved the Miles Street location at the committee level in a close 6-5 vote.
Boshcoff and Zussino were absent from that meeting.
Now the decision is set for ratification at city council's next meeting.
Mayor Ken Boshcoff has offered his conditional support to the proposal while Coun. Michael Zussino has said he would vote 'no'.
Zussino spoke with Newswatch Friday, stating, “in ratification, I'm voting against that site.”
“One of the main reasons is that it really kind of contradicts the revitalization of Fort William with the taking down of Victoriaville. We’re trying to bolster some of the businesses that have kind of stayed away from there. Businesses that reached out and expressed their concern about this, and I'm honouring their concerns,” Zussino said.
If the rest of council maintains their previous positions, Zussino's 'no' vote would create a 6-6 tie with Boshcoff holding the deciding vote.
Boshcoff had previously said he would not support the Miles Street site but told Newswatch late Friday that he would vote yes, as long as council accepts an amendment he will be putting forward.
Read: Mayor will say ‘yes’ to shelter village site if his amendment passes
However, even council accepts the mayor's amendment and he votes in favour, ratification is far from guaranteed. With such a tight vote, it would take only one council member to switch from their 'yes' to a 'no' to shift the balance back against Miles Street again.
At the committee meeting last Monday, Coun. Mark Bentz predicted a rollercoaster ride and cautioned council members to hold their final say on the shelter village location until all council members are in attendance.
Bentz himself is opposing the Miles Street proposal.
In an interview on Wednesday, he said he is not against having a temporary shelter village in the city, but said there is “unnecessary risk” with that site.
“If, in fact, this wasn't to ratify, I'd be fully open ears to hear what are the next steps,” Bentz said.
He said he is open to exploring the two other options presented by administration at the last meeting: a site on Cumberland Street North and the Hillyard site, next to 8th Avenue.
The Miles location “works against the other initiatives council has” for the south downtown core, he said.
“It's really important that we protect the assessment base in the south core because it is a large source of the city's revenue that we use to fund social services and other services within the community,” Bentz said.
“We can help the unhoused and revitalize the south core, but we can't do both by putting that large emergency shelter on Mile Street.”
He said a temporary shelter village “is a path forward” to help the unhoused, but the plan needs to stay temporary.
“It cannot be a band-aid that sticks forever. It needs to be treated as a temporary type of measure,” Bentz said.
