Hamilton council approves Continuation of Interval House WEARS Program to Address Gender Based Violence in Rura... 15-0

Hamilton City Council formally declared gender-based violence and intimate partner violence an epidemic in 2024. Women and gender-diverse people living in rural areas of Hamilton faced heightened risks and unique barriers related to gender-based violence and intimate partner violence. The approved funding was to support the continuation of rural outreach staffing, mobile service delivery, safety planning, counselling, advocacy, and system navigation services for women and gender-diverse people experiencing gender-based violence and intimate partner violence in rural areas of Hamilton.

The motion, as recorded in the minutes:

the amount of $250,000 with Interval House of Hamilton for the continuation of the WEARS Program for the period of April 1st, 2026 to March 31st, 2027 period, subject to the the execution of a funding agreement satisfactory to the General Manager of Healthy and Safe Communities and the City Solicitor, on condition the following funding sources are approved: (i) That the remaining $40,319 surplus from the existing Interval House agreement be utilized to continue service; (ii) That $175,000 be funded from the block funded Human Service Integration program in Project ID: 6502553101; and, (iii) That the remaining balance of $34,681 be funded from the Children’s and Community Services Reserve, #112218, Early Years System Reserve. (b) That the approved funding support the continuation of rural outreach staffing, mobile service delivery, safety planning, counselling, advocacy, and system navigation services for women and gender-diverse people experiencing gender-based violence and intimate partner violence in rural areas of Hamilton; (c) That funds be exempt on a one-time basis and not be counted toward any formula that restricts regular funding from the City including the City Enrichment Fund (e.g. the City's 30% formula); and (d) That ongoing funding for Interval House of Hamilton to provide rural gender-based violence outreach services be referred for consideration as part of the 2027 budget process.

Every figure above comes from the official minutes and the recorded vote they contain. The roll call shows how each member voted.

How this report was made: a language model drafted it from 3 claims extracted verbatim from the meeting’s own documents, and a second model checked every sentence against those claims. Nothing outside the cited documents reaches this page. The vote record above is parsed directly from the minutes and is not drafted.