It’s an ongoing and very visible problem for most communities but the mayor of Belleville is hoping the homeless population in the city will be offered better services in 2024.
Neil Ellis says the council, the John Howard Society, and other organizations are working together to offer social services and a food service at the former Banquet Centre just off Station Street, to be named The Bridge.
“You’re looking at late fall next year (2024) with the renovations and they’re in the process of drawing the plans for that now and we’re hoping to get something sooner than later and hopefully the warming centre will be open at The Bridge also.”
Ellis again told Quinte News that while the city certainly has to be involved helping the homeless, the more senior levels of government, especially the province, need to offer more help or the homeless population will only grow.
Meanwhile, Ellis tells Quinte News that another important project to make progress on in 2024 is getting more industrial land available for new industry and the accompanying new jobs.
Ellis says a necessary Environmental Assessment on the 400 acres of land in the Northeast Industrial Park should be done this year and city staff is busy working in the background.
“The plans are now being drawn by our engineering department for the roads, the pump stations and there’ll be a new bridge over Bell Creek but it’s important to get that land on the market and to get it serviceable because right now we have only about six acres left of industrial land.”
While 400 acres of land sounds like a lot when you consider just one industry, Amazon, bought 100 acres two years ago, it really isn’t.
Ellis says he hopes the new industrial lands will be on the market sometime in 2025.
