The following editorial appeared in the June 20 edition of the Guelph Mercury:
The wait continues for answers about why the Change Now youth drop-in centre and emergency shelter was closed. But when you think about where the funding for the service comes from, it is clear politicians and members of the public have a right to know what happened. They are, after all, responsible for some of the agency’s funding through property taxes that go to Wellington County Social Services and funds provided to the centre through the United Way.
With each passing day, the waters become murkier in terms of why the centre closed. When the doors shut Friday the board’s position was that the programs at Change Now were no longer sustainable. On Monday, former board co-president Li Peckan said information was not being released because of safety issues. Now we’re even more intrigued and concerned about what happened, as everyone in Guelph should be. The services offered at the centre and the well-being of the youth it served is everyone’s business.
In the centre’s earliest days, construction delays and overruns meant its opening was delayed, but no one ever questioned the need for the centre or the fact that there are homeless and at-risk youth who need help and who are the entire community’s responsibility. But it is also the community’s job to ask what led to the closure of the centre. In the four years since the centre opened, social services provided $130,000 annually, money that came from taxpayers. The United Way, using money from many community members, provided $150,000 each year.
City councillors have an obligation to stand up and ask why the centre and its services is no longer available and what led to the closure. The fact that the closure was in the works for about six months, according to United Way director Morris Twist, speaks to this not being a quick decision and points to long-term problems many people should have known about.
Twist is right in saying the priority now is getting these services back up and running, but we also need to know what went wrong.