Multiple days of extreme cold weather have prompted Peterborough’s Housing and Homelessness Portfolio co-chairs, Councillors Keith Riel and Alex Bierk, to issue a public statement asking for Mayor Jeff Leal to use Strong Mayor powers to open temporary emergency shelter space.
Strong Mayor Powers was legislation introduced by the Ontario government in 2022 to give more authority to mayors in dealing with the housing crisis.
Reil and Bierk told CFFF they are “frustrated” about the lack of political will and necessary funding to implement additional support.
“It’s in the purview of the Mayor to use Strong Mayor Powers that he can declare an emergency, we actually have people that are in peril and, perhaps, I hate to say it, losing their life because of the inclement weather,” Riel told CFFF.
The Mayor issued his own statement in response which called the request for Strong Mayor Power “misguided.”
No additional shelter space has been opened since the first statement’s release, and Leal feels it should be decided by majority from City Council.
