Get Your Ducks In Order Jeff Leiper
Architect and urbanist Toon Dreessen differs with The Bulldog on the subject of shelters in the community.
Your agent is much more worried about the process rather than shelters. Public consultation is vital in society and the process below doesn’t give us that.
You have to get the public behind an initiative so that you don’t get a fiasco such as the sprung structure question. Kitchissippi Councillor Jeff Leiper doesn’t understand that. He didn’t get it in the e-bus question that has just fallen into confusion and incompetence. Those buses were bulldozed through committee and council without public consultation. The e-bus mess didn’t resonate with Leiper so consultation was skipped and then botched on the sprung shelter issue.
Leiper appears to think he knows better than the public. He doesn’t and very few people do.
You must get your ducks in order to create legitimate legislation. The most important duck is the public. The only duck Leiper gets in order is himself.
That doesn’t sound like democracy does it.
From Bluesky:
I disagree here. I support @jleiper.bsky.social motion since the new bylaw will permit shelters, this just moves up the timeline. But to be clear, I’d rather we didn’t NEED to do this, and believe in my core we don’t, if we simply chose to fund #HousingFirst, cared for those in need 1/
— Toon Dreessen (@toondreessen.bsky.social) April 2, 2025 at 6:29 AM
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– The Bulldog – News Feed Enter 
Individuals like Leiper and Dreesen “know” they are right and therefore believe that they shouldn’t have to go through all of the steps to prove they are right. Their “right” being an absolute, like in arithmetic.
Therein a problem lies. Unlike in basic arithmetic, there can often be more than one answer that is “right”, because “right” is seldom an absolute. Solutions to the multitude of problems faced by society in general are found on a multi-dimensional scale. There are solutions that may be better. There are solutions that are definitely worse. There is seldom a best. Why? Because there are always trade offs. And trade offs are just a nicer way of saying someone is going to suffer a disproportionate share of the load.
Which leads me to the next problem. Individuals like Leiper and Dreesen are supporting the philosophical trap of the end supports the means. As long as they get their way, they don’t care how much collateral damage they inflict on a community, the city or society. Why? Because they are “right”.
I strongly support Toon’s point that we shouldn’t be having discussions about where to place the next batch of shelters.
This is completely the wrong conversation to be engaged in. The conversation should be about permanent, affordable and decent housing for everyone in our community. We already have an abundance of shelter beds – more than enough to be ‘fill-in-the-gap’ options for people who are unhoused for a brief time while a permanent solution is being put in place. Every single penny being spent on building more temporary housing is a penny taken away from permanent housing.
As the community sees more shelters being built, many will heave a grateful sigh of relief that our unhoused neighbours don’t have to sleep out in the elements tonight. But that shouldn’t be seen by anyone as the provision of housing to those who need it.
Let’s be clear – an unhoused individual who lays her or his head down in a shelter is still an unhoused individual. The focus needs to be on providing housing, not a bed in a shelter. ‘A home’ is not synonymous with ‘a shelter’.
And let’s not forget that some of the ‘shelter’ we are currently providing is a mat on the dining room floor in a shelter building. For some, we aren’t even providing the minimal dignity of a bed. It may not be a heating grate on a City sidewalk but it’s not much of an improvement over that.