A warm community hug

Kitchener’s community building programs have continued to grow and thrive, so most people feel connected to their neighbours in some way. All communities have gathering spaces like small parks, which have community message boards that announce events and things to do for people of all ages- even if you live in less suburban places.

Kitchener has invested in an engaged citizenry- municipal voting is at an all time high! We’re welcoming young people into government by giving them meaningful ways to contribute to how the city looks for them. We’ve made running for municipal office super easy, and for average citizens, participating in government decisions feels like a meaningful use of time, not just something you get thanked for your opinion then ignored.

Part of our connected community feel has been driven by more mixed use neighbourhoods, where people can easily get out and walk to services or jobs instead of driving. When you do need to go further afield, the transit system is far reaching, reliable, and runs frequently. Bus schedules line up with each other so you don’t get stuck waiting 20 minutes for the next transfer. Routes are connected to safe cycling infrastructure like divided bike lanes.

We’re working on diversifying neighbourhoods, too, by building many more mid-density apartments catered to families. These new apartments were built with consideration to the character of the neighbourhood, so they fit in instead of being eyesores, and they often come with city investments in more park/amenity space nearby so these residents can enjoy the green space of home ownership without the headaches of maintenance. There are still some areas of single family housing suburbs, but they are becoming less attractive to new residents as the city puts more investment into mixed density neighbourhoods.

The availability of jobs and high quality affordable housing means lots of young adults decide to stay in Kitchener instead of moving out. That, combined with our robust services for welcoming new immigrants, means Kitchener continues to grow and thrive.

Oh, and we’ve decided to treat the homelessness problem as a community failure not as a problem with individual homeless people. We’ve listened to the opinions of those impacted, some really smart experts and looked at programs from across the world to implement some strategies that are actually helping people. I don’t know what those strategies are but we’re doing them and now other communities are looking to Kitchener as a model for how to support people living without housing or who are precariously housed.