A Better Tent City gets land use on Ardelt Avenue extended to May 2025 | CBC News

A Better Tent City will be able to stay on the Ardelt Avenue property for at least another year and a half.

The City of Kitchener agreed to extend their land use license on the property to May 2025 at a council meeting Monday night.

A Better Tent City is located on property owned by the city and the Waterloo Region District School Board and currently houses 50 people experiencing homelessness in their own small cabins.

Jeff Wilmer, chair of A Better Tent City said in a release, said they were “very grateful” to the city and board “for continuing to make this property available,”

“Without it, the 50 residents of ABTC would very likely have no safe place to go. But with it, they have stability, meals, access to basic services, health care and, most importantly, hope,” Wilmer said.

After May 2025, the site’s land use licence will be reviewed on an annual basis.

Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic said the city has stepped up to support A Better Tent City and its residents “from the very beginning in the dark days of the pandemic.”

“I’m so proud to serve with my colleagues on Kitchener council with their openness to innovative solutions and their prioritization on the full range of affordable housing to once again support A Better Tent City and its residents,” he said in a release.