Ontario's municipalities are being forced to deal with a rise in chronic homelessness and encampments without a clear direction from the provincial and federal government, according to a report prepared by the Association of Municipalities in Ontario (AMO).
The report, published last month and released ahead of the AMO's annual conference next week in Ottawa, showed that while homeless encampments are not new, they have grown in scope and presence.
"In 2023, at least 1,400 homeless encampments existed in Ontario’s communities," read the report's introduction. "Their existence is not unique to large urban centres and can now be found in all types of communities including urban, small town, rural, and northern Ontario."
The AMO did say that a lack of cooperation between the three levels of government was only part of the problem, which has only recently gotten worse. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, the increase in encampments has resulted in rising tempers and resentment toward authorities who take action to clear them.
"Encampments are the latest expression of a homelessness crisis decades in the making," read the report. "These encampments are a tragic result of cracks in the foundations of our housing, health, and social systems and are a public policy failure by successive provincial and federal governments. A lack of intergovernmental cooperation and integration of effort, and insufficient supply of affordable housing have compounded matters."
The AMO said member municipalities have been working to find solutions, with some thinking outside the box.
The report listed three case studies for unnamed municipalities and how they dealt with the issue. The first was in a regional municipality. An upper-tier community worked with a lower-tier one with a temporary plan for a supervised transitional housing area on public land, with 50 providing shelter and on-site staff helping connect people to permanent housing.
The second was in northern Ontario, a community with a large Indigenous population. A protocol was established that an encampment can't be removed until all options for moving people to a safe shelter have been exhausted.
The third was in a larger city, featuring a comprehensive plan for service hubs and a mobile depot, provisions for expanded mental health and addiction services, and hundreds of highly-supported housing units.
The report also pointed out the root causes of chronic homelessness, which are growing income insecurity, an affordable housing pinch, and inadequate means of dealing with mental health and addiction issues.
The AMO's missive concludes that the provincial and federal government must do more to help municipalities manage those root causes and that municipalities have always been willing to work with Ottawa and Queens Park to bring the ends together.
"Sustained, concerted, significant action across all governments is needed, however, to truly make progress," read the report. "The federal Parliamentary Budget Officer has determined that the funding is still insufficient to meet the target of reducing chronic homelessness by 50 per cent. This will require additional investments of $3.5-billion a year across Canada."
The federal government's 2024-25 budget included an additional $250-million to address encampments.
On the provincial side, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing said $700-million a year is spent on supportive housing, and an additional $396-million is included over three years for mental health and addiction support.
The complete report can be read on the AMO's official website.
The AMO conference will include mayors and administration members from across Ontario. It runs from August 18 to August 21 at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa.