Ontario vows to eliminate homelessness within a decade

Yorkregion.com
Nov. 12, 2015
By Teresa Latchford

The Ontario government hopes to wipe out chronic homelessness over the next 10 years.

The province’s commitment comes on the heels of the release of A Place to Call Home, a report from the Expert Advisory Panel on Homelessness that was established by the government to provide advice on how to achieve the goal under Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy.

Hearing from 40 presenters representing 15 subpopulations such as youth, LGBTTQ, seniors, women and more, the panel recommended the province adopt the Federal Homelessness Partnering Strategy definition of chronic homelessness that includes all who have been homeless for six months or more in the past year.

Homelessness isn’t just living on the street, but can be hidden, including people who are couch surfing and sharing homes, according to United Way Toronto York Region vice-president of communications Pedro Barata who sat on the advisory panel.

“Homelessness is a very complex issue,” he said. “It can be the result of lack of affordable housing, income insecurity, domestic violence and all of these add up to a picture that isn’t simple.”

However, Barata believes the province has taken a giant step toward finding a solution by adopting a clear definition to allow the collection of focused data and to put all sectors working to end homelessness on the same page.

While a 10-year goal is ambitious, Barata feels it is a realistic target. A number of investments such as funding shelters, creating affordable housing and boosting mental health supports will be needed.

“An issue like this needs to be a priority,” he said. “This issue is too important and needs to be moved on now.”

In the coming months, Barata expects the province will work on a development strategy to implement an action plan to reach its goal. Most importantly, the province has committed to collecting data, as per the panel’s recommendation, to ensure the steps being taken are making a quantifiable difference.

“The numbers will be published every year,” Newmarket-Aurora MPP Chris Ballard said. “If the numbers aren’t declining, we can tweak the programing or funding.”

Not only is finding a solution the moral and ethical thing to do, but economically it could save the province a bundle of cash. Ballard was shown the broken down medical costs of caring for someone who lives on the street and he remembers at least one case where the bill was upwards of $1 million.

Right off the bat, the province plans to boost the Community Homelessness Prevention Initiative, CHPI, by adding $10 million on top of the current $587 million allocated for 2016.

With the $43 million in funding York Region has received from CHPI since 2012, it has offset the cost of rent, brick and mortar and taken on projects like Belinda’s Place shelter for women.