Ontario’s Big City Mayors would like to see a task force established that works toward a strategy to deal with the growing number of people who are homeless.
It is one of a number of proposals the group is putting forward to deal with what it calls a humanitarian crisis that is impacting all parts of the province.
Chair Marianne Meed Ward says there are too many people living in encampments or other unsafe conditions, and struggling with mental health and addictions issues that are taxing municipalities, healthcare and emergency services.
“It affects our residents, our businesses, and our local governments need solutions,” says Meed Ward.
“Together with various community partners, municipalities have been tackling this issue head-on, funding programs and spaces to find solutions. Although many of these programs have seen incredible successes, the need is far greater than what we can support.”
The mayors’ group is putting forward several proposals as a starting point.
They include a request to provide municipalities with the resources to transition those in the encampments to more appropriate support.
The group also wants to see investment in community hubs and crisis centres that can ease the pressure placed on hospitals and emergency services.
Meed Ward says they also want a task force established to strike a Made-in-Ontario action plan.
She says the funding already put forward by the provincial and federal governments is welcomed.
“We know from the evidence that a funding announcement is not an action plan. It helps the community that got that funding for the period of time they got that funding.”
“But….it is not predictable, and we can’t count on that. We can’t plan for that. When there’s an investment made in a specific community, it’s great, but it pulls folks from other communities to access those resources. And so the evidence also says that people are better served by supports in their very own community where they can stay with people that they know in a familiar area.”
The mayors’ group has also launched a campaign that asks the public to show their support by contacting their MPP.
The Association of Municipalities of Ontario says there are more than 1,400 encampments in communities across the province.
