9 municipalities in Ontario will get about $88 million in funding to assist their “Community Encampment Response plans”
EDITOR’S NOTE: This text initially appeared in Parliament Right this moment, a Village Media e-newsletter dedicated to protecting federal politics on Parliament Hill.
The federal authorities is asking on Ontario to “do more” to assist the homelessness disaster after the province did not strike a deal to match funding to assist with encampments earlier than the winter.
The feedback had been made by Canada’s housing minister, Nate Erskine-Smith, at a Wednesday information convention saying offers with Ontario and Saskatchewan municipalities.
“In Ontario … it’s just over $85 million that would have been cost matched. These aren’t huge sums of money,” Erskine-Smith instructed reporters in Ottawa. “I mean, Ontario should come to the table.”
Ottawa introduced final October it could bypass the 2 provincial governments and work immediately with cities after the provinces did not decide to matching the funding dollar-for-dollar. On the time, Ontario Housing Minister Paul Calandra stated he was below the impression that negotiations with the federal authorities had been nonetheless underway.
In a press release Wednesday, the minister’s press secretary Emma Testani stated the workplace was discussing the funding with Erskine-Smith’s predecessor Sean Fraser when Ottawa “suddenly decided to refuse to partner with the province, with no consideration for the conversations in progress.”
“We have been more than ready to reach an agreement with the federal government for several weeks now.”
The province reiterated that it’s investing $3 billion over three years in homelessness prevention, together with cash for the brand new dependancy and restoration hubs. Testani additionally stated the federal authorities is “underfunding Ontario by more than $400 million for housing and homelessness programs.”
As a part of Wednesday’s bulletins, 9 Ontario municipalities — Durham, Toronto, Peel, York, Hamilton, Niagara, Waterloo, Ottawa, and Sudbury — will divvy up about $88 million in funding, cash that will likely be used to implement “Community Encampment Response plans” and supply further assist to unhoused folks.
The funding is a part of a $250 million dedication made by the Liberal authorities of their 2024 finances with the intent of serving to provinces handle encampments and homelessness.
Erskine-Smith, who took on the function of housing minister in December, acknowledged that “our collective efforts are not at a scale they need to be at.”
“We need to put our politics aside when it comes to a crisis, and seeing our neighbours struggle on our streets, community members denied safe access to our main streets and parks, the growth of homelessness and encampments in communities big and small across our country, it is a crisis.”
The Affiliation of Municipalities of Ontario just lately launched a report suggesting over 80,000 folks had been homeless in Ontario in 2024, a 25 per cent enhance from simply two years earlier.
The information doesn’t embrace people who aren’t recognized to the social providers system, which implies the entire variety of homeless Ontarians is a lot bigger.
Whereas Erskine-Smith acknowledged that Ontario has boosted its homeless helps, he additionally stated they’ve lowered the quantity they spend on neighborhood housing.
“I want to call on Ontario specifically to do more,” he stated.
This isn’t the primary time the federal authorities has threatened to go round provincial jurisdiction and supply funding on to municipalities.
The $357 million earmarked by the federal authorities for inexpensive housing was initially withheld as a result of the province was drastically behind in its goal of constructing virtually 20,000 items.
“I cannot accept an action plan that demands funding for affordable housing that will never be built,” Fraser, who was the housing minister on the time, wrote in a letter to the province.
Nevertheless, just a few weeks later, the 2 governments had been capable of come to an understanding, with Ontario offering Ottawa with a revised motion plan showcasing how they might meet their targets.
