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Catching up with Sudbury’s downtown task team

Created by the mayor to address issuers in the downtown core, Sudbury.com recaps the work the team, which hasn’t issued a report since May 2021, accomplished 
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A snow-covered tent in Memorial Park.

Initiated in October of 2020, the Downtown Task team was created by Mayor Brian Bigger to address the issues in the downtown core, which at the time, involved homelessness and the growing encampments around the city, the ongoing opioid crisis, and rising violence, including two stabbings.

May 20, 2021, saw another update posted to the city’s website, detailing accomplishments to that point. But in the eight months since that statement, no other updates have been posted, so Sudbury.com decided to ask for one. 

Our interview request was denied and the city communications manager, Maggie Frampton, sent a statement instead. When sent follow up questions, including the specific mandate of the task team, the last time they met, if the team is still intact and if they met their mandate Sudbury.com received another statement.  

Frampton described the task team as “an effort to bring all groups together at a high level to identify issues and solutions that address the complex challenges, including homelessness, mental health and addictions, and safety within the City's Downtown core, so that it can fulfill its potential as a thriving, safe and economically productive place within the City of Greater Sudbury.”

One of the early criticisms of the team came from service providers who work with the vulnerable communities downtown. Sudbury.com spoke to two organizations, the Elizabeth Fry Society and the Samaritan Centre, who wished to have a spot on the space-limited team, but were denied.  

“The Task Team was part of the journey that allowed the City and community partners to meet to discuss gaps in services, best practices, and ways to move forward. As a result of these discussions which took place both with the Downtown Task Team and City Council, with direction from City Council, the City of Greater Sudbury is developing a transitional housing facility and a supervised consumption site.”

The transitional housing facility mentioned is the Lorraine street property, which is waiting on $7.4 million in funding from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). There is also the need for funding to cover the Assertive Community Treatment Team, with the 12 full-time and four part-time staff coming at a total cost of $1.74 million per year when fully rolled out. 

The property was used in the application for funding with the CMHC without obtaining community support as there was a deadline to be met, and the money is only earmarked for affordable housing and isn’t contingent on the transitional housing component; the transitional component appears to be a bone of contention within the community. 

The supervised consumption site is a temporary location that will be housed at Energy Court, off Lorne Street. The temporary solution was necessary after the Community Drug Strategy, a partnership between the city, Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD) and the Réseau ACCESS Network, was unsuccessful in obtaining a suitable location, without which they could not achieve funding. 

Ward 6 Coun. Rene Lapierre urged council to support a motion to provide operational costs in the amount of $1.1 million per year for a temporary supervised injection site and on June 15, council settled on the Energy Court location to set up a supervised consumption urgent needs site. Council also committed to providing no more than $800,000 for setup costs.

The temporary site is set to open in March.

Dr. Penny Sutcliffe and Sandra Laclé of PHSD were among the members of the task team that also included other health care organizations, Greater Sudbury Police, city staff, Ward councilors and members of the Downtown Business Improvement Association. 

A large portion of the last update on the task team was devoted to economic development, a #SupportlocalSudbury campaign, infrastructure projects and the downtown community improvement plan, with funds for facade improvements, multi-residential development at 124 Cedar, space for students and “conversion of an existing residential and office building to a mid-century style boutique hotel and cafe/speakeasy.”

The May 20 update also includes funding opportunities the city has pursued,including $6.12 million from “senior levels of government in support of homeless and vulnerable populations.” These funds have been used to create business cases for items like transitional housing,  to help those who may lose housing due to lack of income stay in their home, paying for motel rooms for COVID-19 isolation periods and for those waiting for housing (so they may get off the street),  and also covering the cost of the 199 Larch warming centre. 

Frampton also detailed other accomplishments such as the improved lighting project, which involved accelerating the LED lighting project that was approved in the 2020 budget process, installing around 11,000 LED lights throughout the city at a cost of $5.6 million. Increased cleaning and garbage collection, improvements to flower planters and to the electrical needed for the downtown lighting project, which overall saw an investment of almost $250,000. 

The city has since had to employ a 24/7 cleaner for the warming centre and also a maintenance team for Memorial Park. 

As well as a pilot program for extra security in the downtown core, which has since been extended and consists of six security enforcement officers who work in teams of two seven days per week between 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 a.m. the task team also added an increased police presence, thanks to a suggestion from Chief Paul Pederson. 

The Greater Sudbury Police Services added a 12-officer team to patrol the downtown core, made up of officers from the  Central Community Response Unit, Emergency Response Unit, Traffic Management Unit, Patrol Operations and Integrated Crime Section. 

“The focus was on prevention, intervention and enforcement, both through uniform patrols and plain clothes patrols,” said GSPS spokesperson, Kaitlyn Dunn. Each day, 12 Officers were dedicated to the downtown.” 

This team was in place for “close to seven weeks” beginning in mid October 2020, said Dunn.   

At the moment, of the 398 people who took part in the Point in Time count on October 19, 2021, many have either had their trip home paid for by the city’s accessed funding, have stayed in a motel until housing is available or have been housed as the city moves through the encampment guide, designed by consultant Iain De Jong, which Frampton states the task team had a hand in organizing. 

There are approximately 12-16 people who do not want to use available services and are still living in tents in the city. 

However, without the intensive and specialized support that those who have been homeless for some time require, the transition from encampment to home is often impermanent, and even traumatic. As well, warmer weather has previously brought more people to Sudbury as a hub city, and at last count in Oct. 2021, 72 percent of those surveyed were not from Sudbury.

Jenny Lamothe is a reporter with Sudbury.com. She covers the diverse communities of Sudbury, especially the vulnerable or marginalized, including the Black, Indigenous, newcomer and Francophone communities, as well as 2SLGBTQ+ and issues of the downtown core.


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Jenny Lamothe

About the Author: Jenny Lamothe

Jenny Lamothe is a reporter with Sudbury.com. She covers the diverse communities of Sudbury, especially the vulnerable or marginalized.
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