St. Catharines to host town hall to address “homelessness crisis”

The City of St. Catharines will be hosting a telephone town hall next Thursday to speak with residents about the mental health, addiction, and homelessness “crisis” being experienced in the city.

The event will have Mayor Mat Siscoe and City staff joined by representatives from the Niagara Region, Niagara Assertive Street Outreach and Niagara Regional Police Service to answer questions from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Rather than having participants calling in themselves, the City plans on randomly calling 40,000 households in the area to ask residents if they would like to participate in the town hall.

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“The effects of homelessness are more visible each day in our city and are on many people’s minds” Mayor Siscoe says.

The conversations had through the town hall are aimed at clearing what the Mayor calls “misinformation circulating about encampment practices”, as well as gathering input on the crisis from citizens themselves.

The City says that those households selected to be on the call list will receive an automated message a few days in advance to be notified.

Those who wish to either secure their spot on or be taken off the list are asked to do so through the St. Catharines website or by calling Citizens First at 905.688.5600.

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