Kingston Dignified Housing Strategy

Kingston rents are among the highest in Canada, and the absence of a coordinated student housing framework has pushed students into the same housing supply as families, seniors, and workers. Students face poor conditions but fear reporting landlords because they have nowhere else to go.

Conny Glenn's response: She brought the motion to Council, which passed unanimously. "For far too long, we haven't considered students as constituents, and that has to change." The strategy will explore zoning tools, density permissions, and partnerships with institutions.

The City purchased 924 Sydenham Road to open a 30-bed emergency shelter, facing community opposition over proximity to a cemetery and concerns about behaviour. But the alternative — people sleeping in doorways, parks, and unsafe conditions — is worse.

Conny Glenn's response: She wrote this op-ed urging residents to "consider what will happen if this shelter doesn't happen" and to work with the City in good faith. She voted to keep the project moving forward when Council rejected a motion to cancel it (8-5 vote).

Kingston's food banks were struggling to meet demand, especially student food banks. A "Fines for Food" pilot diverted all March parking ticket revenue — about $180,000 — to local food banks and pantries.

Conny Glenn's response: She brought the idea to Council after hearing from students in her district. "I'm going to encourage people to come out and pay those fines because at least now you know that fine is going to a really good cause."

Kingston City Councillor Conny Glenn argues that the 2026 budget's roughly $155/household tax increase must be weighed against what public services actually save residents — transit that eliminates second-car costs, libraries, recreation programs, and housing supports that prevent far more expensive crises. She acknowledges the increase is painful given rising groceries, rent, and mortgage costs, but warns that cutting services simply shifts costs onto individual households where they're harder to manage. Glenn calls for fairer funding from provincial and federal governments, noting that municipalities are carrying national-level responsibilities with only property tax revenue to work with.

Conny Glenn's response: This aligns directly with KDHS principles — treating housing and food as infrastructure, not charity.

In 2008, Finland abandoned the "staircase model" — which required homeless people to prove they were sober and stable before earning housing — and embraced Housing First. They converted shelters into permanent apartments, and long-term homelessness dropped by 68%. Finland is now the only European country where homelessness is declining.

What Conny Glenn is doing about it: KDHS adopts the same Housing First principle — housing is the first intervention, not the final reward. The strategy calls for converting Kingston's shelter-focused system into a three-stage housing architecture that moves people from emergency response to transitional housing to permanent homes, with wraparound supports at every stage.

Public trust in institutions has eroded because decisions are made behind closed doors, and citizens only hear about plans after they're finalized. Real legitimacy requires more than consultation — it requires genuine power-sharing, where residents help shape policies from the beginning.

What Conny Glenn is doing about it: KDHS embeds co-design into every major decision. People with lived experience of homelessness sit at the design table, not just the advisory table. The strategy includes a public dashboard for all pilot projects, participatory forums for prioritizing initiatives, and the principle that "nothing about us without us" is a design requirement — not a slogan.

Traditional government positions itself as the authority that knows best and dispenses services to passive recipients. But effective civic systems flip this — government becomes an enabler that removes barriers, provides resources, and supports community-driven solutions rather than controlling them.

What Conny Glenn is doing about it: KDHS calls for City Hall to adopt a "servant posture" — paying people with lived experience for their expertise, providing childcare and transportation so participation is possible, and measuring success by community empowerment rather than bureaucratic outputs. The City's job is to support and scale what works, not to monopolize idea generation.

Every human being has inherent worth — not contingent on behavior, productivity, or compliance. Yet current systems force people to beg, perform, and prove they "deserve" help before receiving basic support. Dignity should be the non-negotiable foundation of every program, not an afterthought.

What Conny Glenn is doing about it: Dignity is the first of KDHS's five core values and serves as a hard constraint on all decisions. No outcome is considered a success if it comes at the expense of personal dignity. This means eliminating degrading requirements, providing housing of decent quality (not just "a roof"), and ensuring people have autonomy and choice even when they're in crisis.

Getting someone into an apartment isn't the finish line — it's the starting line. Research shows the first nine months after housing placement are the highest-risk period for relapse, failure, overdose, and return to homelessness. Without transition support, people cycle back through shelters, ERs, and jails — costing far more than proper support would have.

What Conny Glenn is doing about it: KDHS incorporates Critical Time Intervention (CTI) principles: the same case worker follows a person from shelter through housing placement, providing intensive support during the transition and gradually connecting them to community ties. Housing is treated as a platform for stability, not a transaction — and the system is designed to ensure people truly thrive after being housed, not just survive.