OTTAWA – Federal Housing Minister Nate Erskine-Smith is looking on the Ontario authorities to do extra to handle social housing wants within the province.
At a press convention in Ottawa to announce a brand new deal on housing the homeless between Ottawa and practically a dozen municipalities in Ontario and Saskatchewan, Erskine-Smith stated that whereas Ontario has elevated its helps for the homeless, the federal government of Premier Doug Ford has diminished helps for neighborhood housing “by roughly the same amount.”
“We need community housing if we want a long-term solution. A shelter bed just doesn’t offer the stability we all need,” Erskine-Smith stated at his first announcement since taking up the housing portfolio final month.
Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Nate Erskine-Smith speaks to reporters following a cupboard shuffle at Rideau Corridor in Ottawa, on Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. The federal authorities had inked offers with 9 Ontario municipalities and two Saskatchewan cities to handle homelessness.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
“As we’ve ramped up federal spending on community and social housing, the Ontario government has seen fit to reduce its own commitments in this space.”
Erskine-Smith stated the province has seen spending on social housing decline by practically 10 per cent, even after factoring in federal commitments.
“Ontario is the only province — the only province — where responsibility for social housing has been downloaded to municipalities,” Erskine-Smith continued.
“It doesn’t need to be this way, and frankly it wasn’t always this way.”
Erskine-Smith’s first announcement was a two-year, $91 million settlement with 9 Ontario municipalities, in addition to Regina and Saskatoon, to assist the municipalities’ encampment response plans. The municipalities will match Ottawa’s contributions.
These plans embrace creating new shelter areas and rising transitional housing choices.
An analogous deal price $6.4 million was signed with the Metropolis of London in December.
The federal authorities made offers straight with the municipalities after being unable to come back to agreements with the governments of Ontario and Saskatchewan.
Ontario Chronicle | Publication
Whereas the agreements preceded him, Erskine-Smith stated these two provinces weren’t prepared to match the federal government’s contributions.
“I did speak with the minister in Ontario, and he indicated there was always a willingness in reaching a deal, and things went sideways for one reason or another,” he stated.
“Obviously, timeliness was a consideration here. When winter’s coming, you gotta make sure you’re delivering all the supports you need in a real short period of time. At the end of the day, we just needed to get these deals done and so had to reach directly to municipalities.”
Erskine-Smith stated offers have been reached with all different provinces and territories, with particulars to be introduced within the coming weeks.
This report by Ontario Chronicle was first revealed Jan. 22, 2025.
