Lambton County's Social Services Division has been working with agencies in the city to deter the development of homeless camps in Sarnia as the warmer weather sets in.
General Manager Valerie Colasanti said prior to COVID approximately 60 individuals were experiencing homelessness, during COVID the number spiked to over 250 and now there are about 80 individuals and families.
"The county is responsible for the homelessness response within the County of Lambton and we do have quite a few individuals who are still homeless due to COVID and other reasons," said Colasanti. "There are reasons like untreated mental health, substance abuse, lack of suitable housing, the cost of housing. Because of all those reasons, our numbers are growing."
Colasanti said staff assisted individuals who had started to set up tents at Veterans Park, off Wellington Street near Christina Street, earlier this month.
"There were a number of individuals who were congregating near the library because, of course, it has washrooms, WiFi, and things like that. We attempted a coordinated response and we sent out our outreach team of community support workers and they met with those individuals and a couple of them were able to move to the Inn of the Good Shepherd."
But, Colasanti said they weren't able to assist everyone.
"Some individuals choose not to live within our shelter system or they're not able to live in the shelter system because they pose a threat to others or they've not followed all of the rules and regulations."
Colasanti said sleeping bags and food were offered to those who refused help.
"After the first day we didn't see the tent go back up. We did see some evidence that people may have still been using the park. Certainly, they're able to do that, but most had moved along."
Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley said we have a long way to go to tackle homelessness locally.
"It's not a crime in this country to be poor," said Bradley. "And when people complain about individuals who aren't in the best of situations, that's not a crime. What we try to do, and I say we the city and county level, is deal with those individual situations, if it's a mental health issue where can they go...etc."
Colasanti said they're doing their best to find more permanent housing for those receiving assistance, but it's a huge challenge.
"This is not just a problem in Lambton, this is happening across the province and the social assistance rates have not been increased since 2017 and the rents have gone up. We're going to see more and more individuals that are homeless because of some of these situations."
