homelessness

PERSPECTIVES – Tragedies of Dundas Street: Homelessness, inequality and Canadian neoliberalism

Scenes from Zombie-Land: London Ontario, Dundas Street If you don’t know already, ask any local Londoner: they are likely to tell you that downtown London and especially Dundas Street is the “no-go zone,” “the zombie land.” What they mean is the daily unfolding of the human tragedies of homelessness and rampant drug addiction that have marred the face of downtown. You see numerous people lying unconscious on the side of the street, some going through the notorious fentanyl fold, needles and drug pipes left on the sidewalks. The sad news is that London is not an exception in comparison to other Ontario cities; it is just one of the worst ones.  When you look at the numbers, you start to fathom the depth and urgency of the problem. A 2025 report by Western University Centre for Research on Health Equity shows…

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Frontline workers supporting the city’s unhoused population sound the alarm about cuts to service

Frontline workers in London’s supportive services sector are sounding alarms about proposed changes by City Council to the city’s warming centres and funding for outreach services provided by London Cares. In advance of federal funding expiration — which had provided $4.2 million in support for the city’s homelessness response — city staff recommended London’s Community and Protective Services Committee extend a multi-year contract with London Cares and further evolve the homelessness response system.  However on January 23, Ward 4 Coun. Susan Stevenson, Ward 2 Coun. Shawn Lewis, Ward 5 Coun. Jerry Pribil, and Ward 8 Coun. Steve Lehman, proposed amendments…

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A poster displayed with London, ON City Hall in the background. The poster reads: "This city is an open grave filled to overflowing with the present absence of all my dead friends. This city is a slaughterhouse and nobody is criminally responsible just fiscally responsible. This city is a ghostland, hey there’s Nikki I think to myself. Hey there’s Cam I say before remembering they’re all dead. This city rewards the greedy and destroys the kind. This city is in other words a secure investment. Rejoice you bankers. Take heart you real estate investors. All your properties will appreciate in value and all your enemies will be dead. XOXO"

PERSPECTIVES: On being good neighbours

[CONTEXT: On Monday, January 26, 2026, the Committee and Protective Services Committee (CPSC) is meeting at City Hall to discuss a proposal that, if passed, would cause serious harm to some of the most oppressed and vulnerable Londoners, as well as those who do what they can to provide care to said Londoners. This proposal was added at the last minute to the meeting agenda, so that the deadline to apply to speak to the CPSC passed before most people were aware that it had been added. Since that time, numerous people have asked the CPSC Chair, Elizabeth Peloza, to…

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