The existence of the problem has been debated for years - but now, armed with hard numbers, London's Deputy Mayor wants to tackle it.
People who are homeless being sent to London against their will - something he called "inhumane."
Shawn Lewis has a motion heading to next week's Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee (SPPC) meeting that asks for his colleagues endorsement in addressing the issue with other municipalities and the province.
"Our current social services are beyond capacity. Our available housing inventory, particularly in the rental market, is effectively zero. We have no capacity to do more. Unfortunately, that fact is seemingly being ignored by some in other jurisdictions across Ontario," Lewis said in a letter to colleagues.
Staff have also backed up these claims with data, with Lewis saying this is "no longer the subject of conjecture."
City staff say that in the fist six months of 2023, 319 people who went to shelters in London were able to fid accommodation elsewhere and no longer be homeless. 25% of those people wanted to go to a community outside of London.
Some of those people had recently been discharged from hospital, staff added.
The letter also noted that those experiencing homelessness and coming to London of their own freewill is "common place" and not something the city should "pass judgement" on.
Lewis has asked other councillors to vote for the following motion:
That the Mayor & Government Relations staff BE DIRECTED to
a) undertake immediate advocacy efforts with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, the Ontario Big City Mayors Caucus, and the Government of Ontario to develop a united policy condemning the relocation of homeless individuals under false pretense or against their will;
b) And to further work with those partners to undertake the development of processes to stop this practice, including but not limited to the withdrawal of public funding, charitable, or not for profit status of any organization found to be actively engaged in such activities and/or the suspension of professional accreditation of individuals found to be engaged in such activities.
c) And to work with the province to develop a program by which those released from hospitals or detention centres are provided proper discharge planning that includes transportation back to their home communities.
The motion comes amid the city's Whole of Community Response to Health and Homelessness and the hope to have hubs opened by the end of the year or in early 2024.
SPPC meets on Wednesday.
