The federal government has said it wants to eliminate chronic homelessness by 2030, so officials with the City of Windsor are scratching their heads about why it is cutting funding to address the issue.
Late last month, the city received a letter from the federal government warning it would cut funding for its Reaching Home program by 75 per cent by 2028.
The city receives about $3.5-million, used primarily to support services at the Homelessness and Housing Help Hub. The letter said it was entitled to $853,851 in 2027-28.
"We appreciate the work you are doing to address homelessness in your community," read the letter. "Homelessness is caused by a range of social, economic, and individual factors that extend beyond the mandate of any one department, and so Reaching Home is designed to complement other federal programs."
It cited the Rapid Housing Initiative, the Poverty Reduction Strategy, the Housing Accelerator Fund, and the Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy.
"When we hear the federal government say they want to eliminate chronic homelessness by 2030, and then we see drops in the funding, this is not going to bode well for our financials," said Commissioner of Human and Health Services Andrew Daher.
He told councillors when the letter came in, he reached out to colleagues involved in the Ontario Municipal Social Services Association.
"We had an emergency meeting with all 47 leads across the entire province," he said. "This isn't just for the City of Windsor. This is across the entire board with the province and our team was very, very vocal at this meeting. We're advocating very, very hard to ensure we do not lose this funding."
The Association of Municipalities of Ontario and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities supports their efforts.
City council passed a motion to send a letter back to the federal government asking it to reconsider.
