Liberty Village Voters Face Three Measures Reshaping Community Services

Liberty Village residents will face three ballot measures this November that, taken together, represent the most significant local vote on community services funding in at least a decade. The measures cover a proposed levy for mental health and addiction supports, a referendum on expanding the Liberty Village Community Hub's operating hours and staffing levels, and a bond question tied to food bank infrastructure on Hanna Avenue. Each one affects day-to-day access to services that thousands of neighbourhood residents depend on directly.

The timing is deliberate. Local service coordinators have been flagging a widening gap between demand and capacity since 2024, when intake records at the Community Hub showed a 34 percent year-over-year increase in first-time visitors seeking emergency social supports. That figure, drawn from the Hub's 2025 annual operations report submitted to the Liberty Village Community Board in March, reflects a broader pattern of rising precarity that local advocates say is no longer manageable under the current flat budget structure. The three measures before voters are an attempt to put new funding on a formal, voter-approved footing rather than relying on discretionary allocations that can be cut in lean years.

What Each Measure Would Actually Do

Measure A proposes a dedicated levy of 1.2 percent on commercial properties within the Liberty Village boundaries, projected to generate approximately $2.1 million annually based on current assessed values. The legislation authorising the ballot question specifies that revenue must flow exclusively to licensed mental health and addiction service providers operating within the neighbourhood. The Liberty Village Wellness Collective, which currently runs a drop-in counselling program four days per week on East Liberty Street, has indicated it would apply for a portion of those funds to extend service to seven days.

Measure B is a referendum, meaning it requires a simple majority to pass rather than a supermajority, on whether the Community Hub at 25 Hanna Avenue should expand from its current 40-hour weekly schedule to 60 hours, adding early-morning and weekend shifts. The Hub's current model relies heavily on volunteer coordination, but the expanded schedule would require the equivalent of 2.4 full-time paid staff positions, according to a cost estimate prepared by the Liberty Village Community Board in May 2026. Failure to pass Measure B leaves the Hub's hours unchanged through at least 2028 under the existing service agreement.

Measure C asks voters to approve a $4.8 million bond for infrastructure upgrades to the Hanna Avenue Food Collective, the neighbourhood's primary food distribution point. The collective's refrigeration units, installed in 2011, are overdue for replacement, and the bond would also fund a loading dock expansion the collective says is necessary to accept bulk deliveries from regional food rescue networks. Bond repayment would be structured over 20 years, adding an estimated $18 annually to the tax bill of a median-assessed residential property in Liberty Village, according to the preliminary bond costing released by the community board.

How Residents Can Weigh In Before November

The Liberty Village Community Board has scheduled three public information sessions before the ballot closes. Dates confirmed as of this week are July 22 at the Community Hub main hall, August 14 at the East Liberty Street branch library, and October 6, a final session timed to fall within the standard pre-vote information window required under the board's referendum procedures. All three sessions are open to renters and homeowners alike, and the board has confirmed that interpretation services will be available upon 48-hour advance request.

Voters who want to review the full text of each measure can access the board's referendum package at the Community Board office on Fraser Avenue or through the board's public document portal. Advance voting opens October 27. Local advocates note that turnout in the last Liberty Village community referendum, held in 2021 on a parks maintenance levy, was 28 percent of eligible voters, and that result, a narrow 53-to-47 approval margin, was decided by fewer than 400 ballots. For residents who rely on any of the three services in question, advocates say the November vote carries unusual practical weight.