Will Council reopen 2026 Budget deliberations after Salvation Army seeks more funds for Rent Bank that keeps Londoners housed?

An 11th hour push is being made to add money for the Salvation Army’s rent bank program after it was omitted from the city’s budget. Daryl Newcombe explains.

A day after London’s Budget Committee finished its deliberations at City Hall, a letter from the Salvation Army Centre of Hope might see councillors reconsider a decision not to boost funding to the Rent Bank program.

“Whenever it’s an eight to seven vote, I do think that there’s still an appetite for councillors to reconsider,” Coun. Hadleigh McAlister told CTV News on Friday.

The day before, McAlister’s budget amendment to provide an additional $250,000 to the Rent Bank in 2026 and 2027 was defeated.

He had proposed keeping the expenditure off property tax bills by dipping into a reserve fund dedicated to council initiatives that currently has a balance of about $1.5 million.

“This is a very proactive program that will help people stay housed,” McAlister explains. “We absolutely need to consider it because we don’t have a lot of tools in our toolbox to keep people housed.”

The Rent Bank offers financial support to Londoners struggling to pay their rent or utilities.

It’s an income-based program intended to prevent people from being evicted or having their utilities cut off.

Each year it distributes over $1.2 million, but demand exceeds the available funds.

Applications are accepted each month until the monthly allocation of funds is exhausted, then the Rent Bank closes until the beginning of the next month.

Insufficient funding has closed the Rent Bank for 14 weeks during the first eight months of this fiscal year, according to the letter sent to Council by Salvation Army Centre of Hope CEO Jon DeActis.

“The costs for rentals and utilities have increased significantly over the past few years and the budgeted amounts we receive feel the crunch with fewer clients being served,” DeActis writes.

Meanwhile the number of applications seeking assistance is escalating:

• 2023 1,696 applications
• 2024 1,822 applications
• 2025 1,668 applications (7 months)

On Thursday, the Budget Committee voted against two separate motions that would have provided additional funds.

First, Coun. Sam Trosow proposed an additional $700,000 for the Rent Bank, “I could appeal to people’s sense of compassion. I can also appeal to people’s sense of fairness.”

“What we have to do is have a program in place at a certain level to do something, but we also need to advocate on the root causes of the need for the program,” Mayor Josh Morgan said as he argued against the increase.

“Advocacy does not keep people in their rental units. And I don’t hear anybody saying that there’s no need for this,” countered Trosow.

Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis pointed out, “(Rent Bank) is done through the Salvation Army, and they didn’t come asking us again to expand the budget.”

Both Trosow’s motion and McAlister’s more financially modest motion were both defeated.

However, the Salvation Army’s letter was emailed to councillors in response to the debate about McAlister’s pitch for $250,000.

DeActis writes, “We would be glad to accept this amount, or any greater amount if it meets your approval.”

On Thursday, the mayor had explained to Council that a decision regarding the Rent Bank could come after the 2026 Budget is finalized.

“If someone’s going to use the Community Investment Reserve Fund as a source, that can happen at any time during the year. It doesn’t have to happen during the budget process,” Morgan said.

On Friday, McAlister expressed a need for urgency, “We have the opportunity to do this now, especially as we’re getting to the tail end of 2025. Going into 2026 it would be good to have this money ready for the program to disperse.”

McAlister intends to re-introduce his motion at the Special Meeting of City Council regarding the 2026 Budget Update on November 26.