KENORA — A sharp rise in the number of people without a place to live is concerning, said the president of the Ontario Municipal Social Services Association, he is also worried about changing demographics.
"if we don't make this a priority across all levels of government, this isn't going to get better,” said Henry Wall, current OMSSA president.
OMSSA is one of the three organizations that collaborated on a recently-released report that calls for $11 billion to be spent over the next decade to eliminate chronic homelessness.
“We're quite concerned that we're going to see kids and the elderly end up in homelessness because one demographic can't get into the housing market because of how expensive it's got, and the other can't maintain housing,” said Wall. “So, I think that … within the numbers embedded there—it does require a bit more research also—but there there's some telling numbers that I think we should be concerned with.”
Wall said that their data shows that about 25 per cent of those without a home are under the age of 25, suggesting that homelessness is increasingly affecting families. Also, he added, he’s seeing a sharp rise in the number of seniors who are on housing waitlists.
OMSSA represents the province’s 47 municipal services managers including the Kenora District Services Board (where Wall is also the CEO) and the Thunder Bay District Social Services Administration Board. OMSSA partnered with the Northern Ontario Service Deliverers Association and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario to produce the report on the current state of chronic homelessness in Ontario.
The report found that, while homelessness is a growing issue in southern Ontario, the north is being especially hard hit, with the crisis here getting worse at four times the rate seen in the south. Given the harsh winter cold in the region, Wall said that those numbers are incredibly worrying.
“Especially in the north this time of year, and we went through some pretty extreme temperatures a few days ago, it is incredibly unforgiving to people who are sleeping in the rough,” he said. “Where the numbers are, they need to be paid attention to.”
And, Wall continued, municipalities, which raise most of their budgetary funds through property taxes, shouldn’t be the primary level of government dealing with the crisis.
“I think it's really becoming quite telling. The fact that the province and the federal government really aren't investing in housing as they once did, and I think it's kind of coming to a head,” he said.
Wall said OMSSA and the other organizations who were involved in the report’s preparation want to sit down with senior levels of government to have serious discussions about getting resources for implementing solutions to chronic homelessness.
“It's not going to solve itself, and I think that is why where municipalities (are) finally saying something needs to be done,” he said.
