SARAH WILLIAMS

STAFF WRITER

Prince Edward County has seen a rise in homelessness in recent years, particularly since the pandemic. With this in mind, Mayor Steve Ferguson brought forward a resolution seeking council support to combat this issue.

The resolution calls on the provincial government to Provincial Government to urgently:

1. Acknowledge that homelessness in Ontario is a social, economic, and health crisis;
2. Commit to ending homelessness in Ontario;
3. Work with AMO and a broad range of community, health, Indigenous and economic partners to develop, resource, and implement an action plan to achieve this goal.

Inherent to Ferguson’s resolution is the fact that homelessness is taking a devastating toll on families and community, thereby undermining the health and prosperity of Ontario. Ferguson also points out this is the result of underinvestment and poor policy choices of successive provincial governments.

Ferguson also notes this is an issue that municipalities are battling along with District Social Administration Boards, but that they do not have the resources or capacity to address this complex challenge.

Consequently, Ferguson’s resolution calls for urgent action from the provincial government on an emergency basis to develop, resource and implement a comprehensive plan to prevent, reduce and eliminate homelessness in Ontario.

In speaking to council, Ferguson noted the resolution was a joint event between the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) and various other municipalities.

“This resolution is something AMO and a number of municipalities have adapted. We are joining other municipalities in making this call to the provincial government. On May 9^th the CAO forwarded a report of the conference she attended involving AMO and 500 other people concerning homelessness in Ontario,” said Ferguson. “Locally, on Tuesday night, we heard loud and clear form people affected by homelessness and we also endorsed our housing plan which does also deal with homelessness. I think that report and initiatives we will be undertaking by the housing corporation to create a shelter…is vitally important to our community. We have an obligation to deal with this matter head on and it’s becoming worse and worse.”

Councillor Roy Pennell offered his support for the resolution, but noted the federal and municipal governments should be held accountable too.

“I agree the provincial government is part of the problem, but I think the federal is part of it, as well as the municipalities through the years,” Pennell stated.

CAO Marcia Wallace noted the provincial government was targeted as they’re more directly linked with services surrounding the homelessness issue, such as mental health supports.

“The reason AMO is targeting the provincial government is because homelessness more clearly fits into the social services, mental health crossover with housing whereas the federal government seems to be in some of the housing stock, but there are efforts to lobby the federal government as well,” explained Wallace.

Councillor Bill Roberts questioned whether or not the municipality might be taking any other action as outlined by AMO directed toward combating homelessness.

“This resolution is basically a cut and paste resolution from the AMO template. It was part of a larger toolkit of initiatives municipalities could take,” said Roberts. “I’m wondering if we’re looking at some other components, for example, AMO suggested municipalities get engaged on social media platforms.”

CAO Marcia Wallace noted the resolution is a template offered to municipalities believing there could be strength in numbers and that the same letter might prove more effective.

“This is a template, stock resolution. The idea was strength in numbers. We want the same wording over and over,” she said.

Wallace also noted that “we can leverage those other tools to get the message out.”

The resolution was passed by council and will be sent to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, the Minister of Health and to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.