The city we have a need now for 1700 and it plans to build 500 units over the next ten years. This clearly is not an ambitious goal. The city is playing with numbers. The production of 500 units should be compared to the need in 10 years, not today. What is the forecast demand in 10 years for low-income housing?

The paved trail at Burford Lions Park is a good example. Same with Paris trail through Lions Park

The scary people staggering about with their stolen shopping carts full of junk are a disgrace, an eyesore and have virtually taken over the downtown. BPS and the city have turned a blind eye to this horrific issue. How can you expect citizens to enter this area and feel safe? Groups of these vagrants flock to doorways on Market, Colborne and Dalhousie streets and make the downtown a magnet for more to follow. The garbage being left behind and thrown into the street would be considered a crime if done by anyone else, but you have learned to tolerate their existence. The parks are overrun with drug abusers. Little wonder you have a failed downtown. Wouldn't think of sending my kids to school here.

I think access to free mental health care is very important to all children and adults, especially for those with difficult home lives. Would be amazing to see it integrated into all elementary and high schools. Kids could have one on one sessions with a counsellor once a month just to do regular mental health checkups. Every kid should get this just to make sure they are doing okay, progressing well, not getting bullied, etc

Have every kid in elementary school get a library card so they foster a love of reading and are exposed to new ideas that will help them think creatively throughout their whole lives. Parents can also bring their kids to the library every weekend to let the kids choose books they are interested in (and not forced to read in school).

Inclusion means to give equal recreational opportunities to all age groups. Keep Arrowdale Golf Course available for the community to include the 17% older adults 65 and over in outdoor recreational activities. Golf clubs and Tennis courts are needed to include all age groups, the same way that Parks and Recreation maintains 67 parks with playgrounds for 12% children under 10, 34 soccer fields for 12% Youth 10 to 19, 27 softball diamonds and 10 hardball diamonds for the 12% young adults 20 - 29 and small group of over 30. Arrowdale central location is a great place for a senior center with nice parking and easy access from different directions.

Search for barriers or exclusions, explicit or systemic. Identify any discriminatory mechanisms directly, not by speculative inference from disparate outcomes. Treat people as equally as possible, and avoid explicitly counter-discriminatory programs.

Take note of the work being done in Waterloo to redistribute police funding to Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) communities in Brantford. If you mean what you say about wanting to celebrate and honour diversity in Brantford, start listening to the community and investing in BIPOC folks. Listen to community, and actually take action around the things that they’re telling you they need or desire around creating a sustainable, inclusive and diverse future for Brantford— allow community to be the decision makers. This space to offer ideas is a great first step! Support the disabled community by creating more affordable, accessible housing. Invest in keeping the sidewalks clear of snow for folks who use mobility devices. Again, listen to what folks are telling you they need to live thriving lives here. Invest in queer and trans youth, and support them in being leaders in cultivating safe community spaces. Stop gentrifying neighbourhoods and forcing poor folks out of their homes and into a rental market that is inaccessible in order to build condos.

Asking local artists to create murals about our city on existing structures. The Brant ave bridge was just being painted over for graffiti. Would be a great place to make something unsightly, beautiful and promotes local artists.

Brantford is not very walkable. Many trails and sidewalks have no tree coverage making it hot to walk in the summer/visually unappealing and no place to sit. Create more incentives for local/small business. You can’t walk to any attractions in many neighborhoods. Artisanal coffee shops/stores generate income and create beautiful spaces for people to visit. Look at King William in Hamilton & Main Street in Dundas

Redirecting some of the funds given to 5 of the harm reduction supply sites into better Addiction and Mental Health services ( Rehab centre) Better programs for our Youth.

People on the streets, and with substance abuse problems, often come from a background of abuse in childhood. This needs to be dealt with at the core. These people need special mental health facilities to go to so they can rehabilitate into society. These facilities should provide food, shelter, essentials and free mental health care. I have seen many people reach out for help over the years, but without actual free, long term mental health facilities for them to go to and recover, they often continue their cycle on the streets and/or abuse various substances to cope. There will always be people that are just to far gone to even reach out for help. In this case I think the idea of having peace keepers/community helpers, that can wander around the city daily, and make sure these people are at least eating and somewhat taken care of, is the best we can do at this point for them. I know there has been something similar to this idea implemented in the downtown core over the last few years. Trauma can also come at any point in life (loss of loved ones, jobs, homes, food security, accidents, etc). We ultimately just need a place people can go when their mental health begins to suffer in anyway and/or they become addicted to harmful substances. There is a lot of scattered, temporary, short term type help, but it takes more than that to get to the core of mental illness and/or help people conquer their drug addictions. Very few are stable enough to do it with will power alone. Creating places necessary for true recovery is key. People need to realize that anyone of us could be on the streets at any point. We are all in this together.

You need to reframe this question! You should start by asking the leaders in local harm reduction work what to do. You should also start by asking substance users what they need. We are experiencing an opioid crisis in our community, and substance users (like ALL humans in Brantford) deserve access to citizenship regardless of whether or not they use. That means access to housing, a living wage, food, health care, access to safe supply, and the creation of user-led spaces where folks aren’t forced to use alone. Check out collectives like East Tennessee Harm Reduction, or the work of folks like Ann Livingston in Vancouver to begin informing how you approach discussing the issue of drug use. People are dying! One year ago, I sat with a stranger as he died of an overdose in a local Tim Hortons parking lot. I’m a non-user who carries naloxone and tries to stay informed about harm reduction. People should not be dying alone in parking lots. And by centering your approach in abstinence and “prevention” you’re not going to do anything to support folks in our community who are experiencing marginalization and are contending with demoralizing and dehumanizing conditions because they use drugs. Center autonomy, and self-advocacy in your approach. This question is disappointing.