Lower-Tier Municipalities Encouraged to Look at Housing and Homelessness
By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
The best minds in the country are wrestling with housing and homelessness and, in Northumberland County, the Municipality of Brighton wants to extend that effort to lower-tier municipalities with an intermunicipal ad hoc committee.
Their correspondence to Cobourg council got a warm reception Monday, except for Deputy Mayor Nicole Beatty’s amendment to make it more of a working group.
While in Northumberland County, the housing issue is in the county’s portfolio, this group would have two members from the council of each of Northumberland’s seven member municipalities to share their challenges around the issues of housing and homelessness. There would, however, be reprentation from the county to share opportunities for collaboration and provide recommendations.
“Initially I was a little timid about this suggestion,” Mayor Lucas Cleveland said.
“However, further discussion with the Deputy Mayor has sort of opened my eyes to the idea that this is a great opportunity for lower-tier municipalities to contribute to the work county council is doing.
“The more minds we have to try to solve these complex problems, the better we are going to do.”
Councillor Brian Darling agreed with that comment.“They have had a whole bunch of fingers in this pie for a long tine and still haven’t had any answers. I guess it couldn’t hurt to take another kick at the can,” Darling said.
