The Matt Brown Podcast

It’s been said that a city’s downtown is its calling card to the world and London is no exception. Here's why - geographically, London’s core represents less than 1% of the city’s overall space - and at the same time, the core is responsible for over 5% of overall assessment. It’s a closed economic ecosystem. When the core thrives there is more money generated for greener parks from Westmount to Huron Heights to Argyle. From Sunningdale to Old East Village to Wortley and Westminster - and all neighbourhoods in between.

It can mean better roads with fewer potholes across the city. The dollars and cents generated downtown can also help keep taxes affordable because new assessment from growth can cover the costs associated with running a city that would otherwise be paid by existing property owners.

The downtown is the heart of the city. It’s the meeting place for Arts, Music, Culture and our creative communities. The Grand Theatre, Covent Garden Market, Canada Life Place, Victoria Park, Centennial Hall, Museum London, RBC Place, Dundas Place and the multi use pathway system that links the forks of the Thames to every neighborhood across the city are all examples of City investments that have attracted all kinds of private, not for profit and institutional sector investments.

Billions of dollars in construction for thousands of apartments in the core. Fanshawe College opening a Downtown Campus. London Music Hall, the Boys and Girls Club, the YMCA, the Aelion Hall, 100 Kellogg’s Lane, the Hard Rock Hotel and more. Countless restaurants, shops and other businesses making investments of their own, too.

There is no question - the core is down right now, but it’s not out. The Covid years did significant damage. The homelessness and addiction issues are impacting London’s core just like they are in cities all across Ontario and Canada.

The good news? People are returning to the core and people are moving to the core by the thousands. Just this month TD announced the return of 2500 employees. Conventions have returned to RBC Place, Covent Garden market is booming - so is the Western Fair Market, Canada Life Place is sold out on a regular basis and, at the same time, there are more highrises coming on line on a regular basis - bringing thousands more Londoners to the core, for the first time.

With all of this happening - London City Council is conducting a review of the strategies they have in place. It’s called the Downtown Plan and it’s happening right now. Here to talk about it today is Ward 13 Councillor, David Ferreria.
So, lets go.

Steve Cordes led Youth Opportunities Unlimited, a local not profit here in London that serves youth from London in a myriad of ways. The growth the organization experienced under Steve’s decades long stint as CEO is nothing short of remarkable. Y.O.U. provides young people from London who are living complicated lives with things like housing supports as they navigate social services and sometimes the criminal justice system. Y.O.U. leads in social entrepreneurial endeavors too - providing employment opportunities and on the job training for youth, while, at the same time, having a positive impact on the London Community. Most importantly, Y.O.U. helps young people from London experiencing adversity understand that they matter and that people care about them and that they belong.

This past summer, Steve retired from this role. Steve is many things - he’s an expert at navigating municipal politics - really all level of politics. He’s a fundraiser extraordinaire, he’s always been an advocate for the underdog and a champion for doing what is right. Post retirement, we knew he wouldn’t simply disappear from the scene. We wondered what might be up to next - and - today, he’s here to tell us about what that's going to look like.

Maybe you're familiar with the term, “hiding in plain sight”, in other words something is right in front of our nose, but it blends in so well that we don’t even see it.
That’s often the case with the programs and services that St. Leonard’s Community Services provides. Today you're going to hear about terms like: half way houses, jail and prison, parole and probation and how the organization supports people as they take responsibility for their actions and transition from incarceration back to living in our community after serving time for a criminal conviction. You’re going to hear about some of the upstream preventative measures they provide too.
That’s the background. St. Leanoard’s Executive Director, Michael Oates is here to tell us all about it.

Graham Henderson is joining us today to talk about a draft economic development strategy that has been developed by Deloitte and is moving through the council review and approval process, right now.
The draft strategy includes 5 pillars”
1. Talent and Innovation
2. Investment Attraction and Retention
3. Regional Collaboration
4. Transportation and Access
5. System Optimization
Naturally, Graham and the London Chamber of Commerce, along with other community partners, have been supporting the development of this strategy throughout the process. He’s been at the table and he and his team have been involved in the community engagement discussions - during this time, he picked up on a theme - “fix the downtown” came up again and again, no matter who he and his colleagues connected with.

At the same time that this strategy is being developed, City Council is also developing a new plan for London’s Downtown. Graham sees potential synergies between the two initiatives and he’s submitted a letter and will be a delegate at a council committee meeting where he will request that council make a small “tweak” to the draft strategy, specifically - adding an additional round of targeted community consultation as well as adding a Pillar to the strategy that speaks directly about London’s Downtown: including a strong reference to London being a Unesco City of Music and identifying how a focus on Culture & Creative industries are significant potential economic drivers for London’s economy. Thanks for listening!

Back in December, London’s mayor, along with other “big city mayors" from across the province called on Doug Ford’s government to declare a State of Emergency to address the homelessness crisis, while at the same time London City Council purchased 60 tiny homes that could be seen as representing one of the main thrust of City Hall's Winter Response.

Crews have started to assemble them on a site near the 401 and the city has also hired a private sector company to operate the site. The mayor has committed to having them operational in "early 2026". Meanwhile winter came early this year, people are living rough and we're experiencing snow storms and cold snaps on a regular basis. At the time this episode was aired, on January 5, 2026 the tiny homes were still not ready to go. People are wondering - when is that going to happen? When is the city going to start moving folx off of the street and into these homes.

With all this going on, I ran an encore of the episode featuring Chris Moss, the Executive Director of London Cares. She joined us several months ago to share information about London’s housing and homelessness crisis and how the organization she leads works with other community partners to address London's homelessness crisis.

When the encore episode was published, I asked listeners to write in and outline what they thought the city should be doing next to address this crisis. And many of you did. Have a listen and please, let me know what you think!