The Matt Brown Podcast

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!

London City Council recently approved their 4th and final budget. There is a lot to talk about as we head into a Municipal Election year. Joining us to talk about it today are panelists Jared Zaifman, a past member of London City Council and the CEO for the London Homebuilders Association, and Kelly Ziegner, the current CEO and President of the Elgin Middlesex United Way. This past week it was announced that Kelly will be moving to the YMCA of South Western Ontario to serve as that organization's Chief Operating Officer. Congratulations, Kelly! Back in 2014, London City Council made the switch to a 4 year, multi year budget and this practice continues to today. The idea is to plan out the entire 4 year term in year 1 so that civic administration, funded boards and commissions, community partners and Londoners have some predictability as they make plans for the years ahead. At the beginning of each new term, council approves (or adjust) the budget that the previous council set for them. They also map out what the next 4 budgets (including the first year of the following term) will look like. Even with a Mutli-year budget, the municipal act requires council to conduct a review every 12 months. This allows council to make tweaks and changes for the year ahead. It’s an interesting 4 year budget because the cumulative increase in property taxes was 24.5% that’s a record - at least for this century. It also means that if you were paying $4000 in taxes at the beginning of the term, you’ll be paying $4980 beginning next year. It was a bold political move - and as we enter into an election year this decision is shaping up to be one of the first city wide election issues, the other was council’s decision to increase their pay by 35%, that’s something we can expect candidates to be talking about and Londoners to be thinking about as they prepare to go to the polls. Also - in this episode I incorrectly attribute a question asked way back during the 2023 budget deliberations bout 2 electric vehicles really being necessary for the London Police Service to Councillor Skylar Frank. It was actually Councillor Corrine Rahman asking the question, to the Deputy Chief Trish McIntyre. Nice catch, Jared!

In municipal politics there’s no such thing as a small issue and whatever the issue is, it’s guaranteed to be local. Today we’re going to speak with a representative from a brand new Old North neighbourhood advocacy group. It's called A.C.T.I.O.N. My guest, Dr. Colin Evans, is a memeber of this group and he has a lot to say about cut through traffic in his neighbourhood and neighbourhoods and right across the city. He knows his stuff too. To learn more please check out their website: OldNorthCommunity.ca you might live in Old North, or you might live in another neighbourhood -either way, they want to hear from you.

This is an encore edition of the 2nd episode of The Matt Brown Podcast. It's timely because winter is here, earlier than expected. People are living rough and we're experiencing a cold snap. The Mayor, along with other "big city mayors" from across Ontario is calling for the Province to declare a State of Emergency to address this. In this episode, Chris Moss, the Executive Director of London Cares, joins us to share information about the organization she leads and how London Cares works with other community partners to address London's homelessness crisis. Listen for "Housing is Healthcare". After listening, please help if you can you can donate at: LondonCares.ca. Also, send a note - tell me what you think the City should be doing next to address this crisis. You can email: [email protected]. It's your turn now- IIf you provide your first and last name, I'll read your ideas on a companion podcast in the days to come. Thanks for listening, talk to you soon and bye for now London.

You likely know that London City Council gave itself a hefty wage increase and it will go into effect just over a year from today. It was a close vote, 6 councillors voted against this move, 3 changing their vote to Nay during the final debate. As we head into an election, is this one of the first bona fide, city wide issues that will enter into the debates? The majority of sitting council members have already declared that they will be running to protect their seat. Where it gets interesting is incumbents largely run on their voting records for big issues, while challengers can both bring new ideas forward while at the same time be critical of decisions their opponent made during past terms of council. Will challengers latch on to issues like the record setting cumulative 26% tax increase this current council approved over the course of their 4 year multi year budget, while at the same time giving London City Council members a task force recommended 35 percent raise? These were both bold political moves, so possibly so. We’ll have to stay tuned, Today, we’re lucky to have the Chair of the Council Resourcing Review Task force to tell us about the process and the reasoning behind the task force recommended increases.