Brampton charity finds new location for hub that supports the homeless, after City Hall’s legal threats led by Rowena Santos & Patrick Brown

A new location for Brampton’s hub that supports the homeless will hopefully ease tensions caused by some residents and Councillor Rowena Santos, who led a legal threat by City Hall against Regeneration Outreach, which has worked daily to confront the crisis plaguing Peel.

The vital charity was launched in 1999 and has been based inside Grace United Church near the centre of Brampton’s downtown. Santos, the area councillor, and Mayor Patrick Brown have been part of a conservative political agenda that has attacked encampments and social services near residential areas that provide critical support for those who do not have a home.

Santos and Brown cancelled a major downtown revitalization initiative, Downtown Reimagined, that had been approved before they arrived on council in 2018. They have cut other spending measures for the area and have failed to approve key investments in the withering city centre. 

Despite their inaction, last year Santos brought forward a motion to take legal action against Regeneration for what she claimed were health and safety concerns.

A report from Steve Jacques, Peel Region Commissioner of Human Services, recently outlined a plan to move the homeless hub out of downtown, into an old fire station on 8 Rutherford Road South, which would be demolished and rebuilt for the hub.

It is located in an industrial/commercial area removed from many of the services and spaces Regeneration’s clients rely on, and would not be as easy to access. 

Top: The proposed new location in an industrial/commercial area of the city (Google Maps). The new hub for Regeneration Outreach at 8 Rutherford Rd. in Brampton would provide more space but will be harder for people to access and is not near many of the other services and city spaces clients rely on.

(Alexis Wright/The Pointer)

The new hub, set to be located inside a refurbished former fire station on 8 Rutherford Road South is two kilometres east from Grace United Church. In July 2025, the Pointer reported on how the Regeneration Outreach Community operating from the Church received pushback from Santos and Brown. 

Brampton council voted unanimously to pursue legal action against the Church if their concerns were not addressed.  

During a special meeting of city council on July 17 last year, Councillor Santos tabled a motion directing the City solicitor to send a legal letter to Grace United Church and Regeneration Outreach, demanding they address what she claimed had become a “serious health and safety concern”.  

In the motion, which was approved unanimously, council moved that it was “requiring action to be taken to address the concerns immediately or face further legal-action.”

Councillor Rowena Santos brought forward a motion last July threatening legal action against Regeneration Outreach. 

(Alexis Wright/The Pointer files)

Staff at Regeneration Outreach told The Pointer at the time that the legal threat was sent without any warning or consultation with them to find amicable solutions to any issues impacting downtown Brampton.

Another legal threat was sent by the City of Brampton in the fall of last year. 

"In the past, we had a really good partnership and relationship with them, so it was very saddening to know that they were having meetings and conversations about us without consulting us or having any conversation with us,” Jenna Robson, director of operations with Regeneration Outreach, said last fall. "We are bridging the gap for people who have fallen in the cracks, who are victims of the crisis that we're currently living in…We are supporting them and doing the work that the system has failed in.”

The letter sent last fall followed the previous threat sent by the City’s legal department, on direction from Santos and approved by her fellow council members, to Regeneration Outreach in July. The correspondence stunned the social service organization, with officials telling The Pointer in August that it was sent without first consulting them about the issues or potential solutions. 

"In the past, we had a really good partnership and relationship with them, so it was very saddening to know that they were having meetings and conversations about us without consulting us or having any conversation with us,” Robson told The Pointer at the time. 

She said talks to find Regeneration a new location broke down in 2024 without a solution.

Ted Brown, Regeneration’s CEO, told The Pointer last year that a property had been identified by the City for a potential relocation of Regeneration’s services, but talks fell apart.

"We were negotiating, but I can't really share the reasons why those negotiations broke down.”

Discussions with the Region of Peel continued last year, and he said a new location might have been found. 

“Based on our conversations with the Region, I believe things are moving forward with a potential new location.”

He explained that Regeneration has been working on finding a suitable place to relocate for about five years, but as property costs had increased, the financial situation made it difficult.

"We’ve had a needs assessment done by an architect and have assessed the costs involved. A lot of work and effort has gone into this, but rapidly rising property prices and escalating construction costs over the past year have made the process especially challenging.”

In a post on her website, Santos claimed the City had been involved in the discussions to relocate Regeneration Outreach. 

“While the City has gone above and beyond its jurisdiction to help facilitate relocation, Regeneration has yet to demonstrate any initiative to find a new space or present an updated model of service delivery,” she claimed in the post, contradicting what Brown told The Pointer.  

Santos has come under fire from Brampton residents who say she has divided community members and tried to mislead them around the issue of encampments (where many vulnerable residents find shelter) and the conditions around Regeneration. The blaming of Regeneration Outreach for challenging issues is at odds with the Region of Peel’s approved protocols for homelessness and encampments which focus on a “human rights based” approach. 

The statements by Santos, who is responsible for the ward along with Councillor Paul Vicente, that the City has gone “above and beyond” to assist Regeneration is hard to stomach for some residents.

"I witnessed Rowena Santos at city council stating they would offer assistance to Regeneration by providing building solutions and collaborating with the organization. Now she’s changed her position from what she publicly declared. There are things she could do to support Regeneration, but she chooses not to—and so do (Mayor) Patrick Brown and Paul Vicente. All three of them are not supporting this,” Tracy Pepe, a vocal Brampton community activist who is running to replace Santos in this year’s municipal election, told The Pointer last year, adding it's unclear why councillors like Santos are veering from past statements. “Either she's fabricating it—which would be a profound thing to lie about—or something has changed.” 

Under Mayor Brown, Brampton council has put off critical investments into the downtown. Revitalization efforts, which would have been completed soon after Brown was elected in 2018, were cancelled by him, with the support of Santos, his main council ally, in order to cut programs and fund his own lavish spending. Brown and Santos (both sit on regional council and are responsible for housing and social services) have repeatedly refused to address the underfunding of programs that leave vulnerable and unhoused residents with few places to turn. 

The new report states that the aim of the homeless hub is to “Reduce the impacts of street homelessness on businesses and residents through well-designed, welcoming safe spaces that are accessible during the day, evening and night.” 

The report details that Peel Region will pay up to $250,000 per year in rent for 25 years to the City of Brampton, with 2 per cent annual escalations. 

The service hub, according to the Region of Peel report, will “operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, providing daytime drop-in services, social supports, and overnight accommodation through the Stay the Night Program for individuals experiencing homelessness.”  

“The preliminary estimate of the capital costs to build the hub is between $24,000,000 to $28,000,000.”

Peel Region officials have provided no information for when construction would begin.

The report leaves a number of key questions unanswered. There will be a $3.9 million annual funding gap for the operation of Regeneration and it’s not clear how the regional government will pay for this, with only a vague mention that future property tax supported budgets will have to account for the money which is currently not in Peel Region’s base budget. 

A 2024 Point-in-Time (PiT) Count showed Peel saw an increase of 223 percent in homelessness compared to 2021. There were an estimated 2,799 people experiencing homelessness in one night alone, on Nov. 13, 2024. 

No data is available for the PiT count conducted in 2025, which is set for release this year. The 2025 Housing Services Annual Report shows the reach of the crisis, and how Peel Region officials are trying to overcome the rise in chronic homelessness. Peel Regional Council, which includes most of Brampton’s City Council members and all of Mississauga’s in addition to representation from Caledon, has ignored the affordable housing crisis for two decades, and has repeatedly failed to fund its own programs, forcing them to be abandoned.

Regeneration Outreach, headed by CEO Ted Brown, is hopeful the new site will be a win, win. It would provide 20,000 square feet including space for a kitchen, dining hall, laundry and shower facilities, meeting areas and vital medical clinic rooms. 

Despite the pushback from the community, the Regeneration Outreach community is still taking care of the most vulnerable in Peel, and Brown is optimistic the new location will be able to allow the work to continue. 

“It’s on bus routes,” he said. “It’s a great location in my opinion.” He pointed out that nothing has been confirmed as of yet. 

One of the major challenges has been NIMBYism. Brown’s organization was threatened with legal action in the first place because some community members felt safety in their neighborhood was being compromised, and Santos took advantage of a political opportunity that divided residents. 

“NIMBYism is very much alive and well in every community across the country,” Brown said. “People don't understand homelessness, and people get afraid of these kinds of things. Some of them have genuine concerns, and I think it's trying to mitigate those concerns that people have.”

The Peel Region report covers areas of risk and plans to mitigate them. The new property shares space with the Noon Academy Islamic School. “Brampton is working with the school to relocate to a more suitable location. Peel’s interest in the site is contingent on the successful relocation of the school,” the report highlights. 

Brown and his Regeneration team hope to continue their efforts long into the future, “no matter where we end up, whether it be in this hub or elsewhere,” he said. 

He fears that the homelessness crisis will not be going away anytime soon. “There is going to be … a massive growth in the number of people that are going to be losing their homes because they can't afford their mortgages,” he warned. 

The 2025 Housing Services Annual Report states that rising mortgage interest rates, along with other factors such as lingering pandemic instability and tariff-related job and income disruptions are challenges facing many households in the region. 

Before the new hub can be built, the City still needs to conduct tests including an environmental assessment to see if the site is suitable. 

“There's going to be a lot of work to be done before that all gets a go ahead,” Brown said. 
 

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