Big city mayors call for drastic action as homelessness surges across Ontario

Some high-profile Ontario mayors are calling for drastic action to deal with the crisis of homelessness in the province.

They say it’s time to declare a province-wide state of emergency over a problem that’s still growing across Ontario.

Governments have been dealing with the homelessness crisis for years now with people watching tent encampments pop up on streets and in the parks.

But the mayors of Ontario’s big cities say it’s getting worse, not better, with more and more people who don’t have appropriate shelter.

With snow and cold making itself felt, Ontario’s big city mayors say it’s time to step up the fight against homelessness.

“The situation is dire and getting worse. And of course winter is now here and that puts people’s lives at risk on the street from freezing,” said Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward.

Meed Ward is chair of the Ontario Big City Mayors’ caucus.

They’ve been calling homelessness a humanitarian crisis for the past year and say the provincial government should now be raising it to a state of emergency.

“The number of people living on the street is growing. It is a combined crisis of affordability, mental health and addiction and lack of affordable housing,” said Meed Ward.

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In Hamilton, Mayor Andrea Horwath says the number of homeless has grown from just over 1,500 in 2022 to 2,073 this fall.

“The situation is worsening. The humanitarian crisis is exploding and it’s beyond the capacity of municipalities. It has been for a long time but it’s getting worse, not better,” said Horwath.

In a city like St. Catharines, Mayor Mat Siscoe says the tents may not be as visible as they were, but the issue is still there with as many as 70 encampments.

“I don’t think we’re necessarily seeing a lot of movement on actually solving the problems. At the region of Niagara, I brought a motion saying we need to start putting dollars towards these supportive housing solutions because at the end of the day, shelters are not the right answer either; it’s a band aid solution,” said Siscoe.

The Ontario Big City Mayors say the provincial government has been helping with things like HART Hubs to support the homeless.

But they say the province has to come up with a lot more money. Municipalities are suggesting $11 billion over ten years.

As it stands, Hamilton says the city is paying for well over half of the cost of dealing with homelessness.

Jen Bonner, the director of The Hub in Hamilton that supports the homeless, says an emergency declaration won’t make much difference in the face of an overwhelming problem.

“Overflowing shelters, overcrowded emergency rooms with nowhere to discharge, unprecedented demand for outreach teams, severe shortage of permanent housing and supportive housing units. For the individuals that get turned away, this declaration really changes nothing about their immediate safety or their struggle to find a warm place to sleep tonight,” said Bonner.

While the big city mayors say a state of emergency would put stress on the importance of the issue.

“It focuses the mind and the attention on the fact that this is a very severe crisis and it underscores the need for urgency,” said Meed Ward.

And this discussion took on another new sense of urgency today with a cold weather alert issued for tonight and a warning of temperatures in the minus 20s with the windchill.

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