This is copy of email sent out to campaign subscribers this week:

Over the past week, I have been knocking on doors across northeast and southeast Owen Sound and talking to Owen Sound residents at farmers markets. The main concerns residents raised were homelessness, addiction, theft, traffic, and road conditions, so I have significantly expanded my proposals in these areas.

On homelessness and addiction, I went directly to people experiencing them and recorded video interviews about whether they would be interested in land, recovery, meaningful work, and community life [link]. The answer was clearly yes. One person I interviewed has already found housing because an interested viewer saw the interview and reached out to help.

My proposal would establish longer-term rural recovery communities where participants could rebuild healthy routines and relationships through gardening, farming, food preparation, construction, maintenance, and other meaningful work. Evidence from established rural therapeutic communities suggests this approach can be more than twice as effective over the long term: one study found about 70% of participants drug-free four years after leaving, compared with roughly 30% abstinent after three years in a North American study of more conventional treatment.

People completing the recovery program could move into community land trusts, stable housing, farming, and permanent community life. Instead of sending people back into the circumstances that contributed to addiction, we could offer a genuine path into belonging, responsibility, and a life worth living sober.

And community land trusts could serve many more people than those leaving recovery.

For some Owen Sound residents, homelessness is closer than many realize. I have spoken with long-term residents who are struggling to keep up with their mortgage payments and know that, if they lost their homes, local rents would be beyond their reach. A community land trust could give them an affordable route to stable housing, land, shared resources, and eventual home ownership before they reach a crisis.

The interest crosses generations. Young adults still living with their parents have grilled me on the details of how they could join and help build these communities. Seniors have also expressed interest in participating. People of all ages are looking for affordable homes, productive land, supportive neighbours, and meaningful opportunities to contribute.

I have now published a detailed proposal showing how yurt hamlets could provide affordable first homes, shared facilities, productive land, food security, and a pathway toward permanent cabins and ownership:

https://helpos.ca/c/grey-farming/8033/the-yurt-hamlet-a-post-cheap-fossil-settlement-model-for-gre

These conversations have also strengthened my neighbourhood village model. People experiencing homelessness raised concerns about their treatment by police, while James of OS Auditing has raised concerns about the lack of body-worn cameras and access to police video records. Greater transparency would help everyone understand these encounters more fully and create space for residents, officers, and community leaders to find fair and compassionate ways forward.

Locally selected village leaders could communicate neighbourhood priorities to police, help work through concerns, and coordinate neighbourhood watches based on communication and mutual care. One neighbourhood may emphasize theft prevention, while another may focus on outreach, de-escalation, youth activities, or traffic. One tentative approach would be to compensate village leaders only for the hours they actually spend serving their neighbourhoods, at approximately the 2026 living wage of $24 per hour. This could keep the cost to taxpayers modest while fairly supporting the people doing this valuable work, helping them continue to live and serve here alongside us.

The same participation model could help address road conditions. I would seek to renegotiate city contracts so residents could take part in approved maintenance. A willing resident could work with a village leader and road inspector, follow an approved procedure for filling a crack or small pothole, and have the materials covered by the city.

That could mean simple repairs happening within days or weeks, while trained professionals remain focused on larger and more specialized work. Instead of waiting for every solution to travel through a distant system, we can give people practical ways to care for the places where they live.

Together, these proposals offer practical ways to strengthen relationships, increase participation, and create opportunities for more people to build stable and meaningful lives.

Thank you to everyone who welcomed me at their door, shared an experience, offered an idea, participated in an interview, or helped a neighbour this week.

The greatest hurdle facing this campaign is simply that many people in Owen Sound have yet to hear about me or these ideas. You can make a real difference by telling friends and neighbours about the campaign, forwarding this email, or sharing one of my articles or videos.

You can also help online by liking or upvoting my posts, subscribing to my channels, and commenting when something resonates with you. These small actions help the platforms distribute the content to more people.

Helpos: [link] | Facebook: [link] | Reddit: [link] |  YouTube: [link] | TikTok: [link] | X: [link]

For those who want to become more directly involved, please reach out to volunteer for door-to-door canvassing, help establish your neighbourhood village, or explore becoming a village leader or City Councillor.

Several people have expressed tentative interest in running for Council, but nobody from our growing movement has taken that leap yet. Nominations close in just over ten weeks, at 2 p.m. on Friday, August 21, so now is the time to discern whether this may be your opportunity to serve.

Every conversation, shared post, new volunteer, and act of neighbourly care helps Owen Sound spiral upward through compassion, transparency, participation, restoration, and love for all creation.

With love and gratitude,

Andrii Zvorygin Candidate for Mayor of Owen Sound helpos.ca/andrii