The task team that was created last October to address issues with homelessness and the city's downtown has not met since March 8, but work is still going on behind the scenes.
Greater Sudbury Mayor Brian Bigger launched the task team late last year in the wake of a string of violent incidents in the city's downtown, including a fatal stabbing that resulted in second-degree murder charges against a 32-year-old man.
Scheduling regular task team meetings has come with its share of challenges, as the city has been fighting with a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Bigger was involved in city budget discussions for much of the early part of 2021.
During their last meeting on March 8, one of the key topics discussed was a supervised consumption site in the city. Public Health Sudbury and Districts issued a formal request for expression of interest for a supervised consumption site last October, but a location has not yet been identified.
"Public Health and Réseau have been working on this so we got a bit of an update there and I've invited them to come back and provide more details with the challenges they've been facing," said Bigger. "They have not been able to identify a location yet, but we're bringing all the partners together to move that forward."
The city held a pair of public consultations in January to gather input and plot a path forward in looking out for its most vulnerable citizens. The consultations were held on back-to-back nights with the first welcoming members of the community who work with services and organizations that assist the city's homeless population.
Night two of the consultations was opened up to those with lived experience with homelessness.
"We got a lot of valuable input from that, some of it was quick and easy to implement like signage and wayfinding for homeless people so that they're able to know where the supports were in the community," said Bigger.
Having access to services and knowing where to go to access each specific service is a step in the right direction, but the longstanding issue that has cropped up time and again is the shortage of affordable housing in the city.
A group of Sudburians gathered outside of a rooming house on Notre Dame Avenue on April 3 to protest a landlord who was allegedly illegally evicting tenants.
Raymond Landry, co-ordinator with the city's Homelessness Network, spoke during that protest about the affordable housing shortage in the city, noting that evictions put a serious strain on the city's shelter system as there was nowhere for them to go after being evicted.
"The other thing that I asked is that we connect with landlords and see how we can work with the landlords in our downtown to deal with some of the challenges that we're seeing with people out on the street," said Bigger. "We've seen a reduction in the amount of affordable housing downtown and I know that's something that we need to continue to work on."
A pilot program to increase security in the downtown has yielded some positive results as well, as Bigger said there have been hundreds of interactions between city bylaw officers and homeless members of the community.
“A lot of what they’re doing is just helping to direct them to the Off the Street shelter or other services in the downtown and the outreach is appreciated,” said Bigger.
“Throughout this process I’ve been in contact with Minister (Michael) Tibollo (Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions), and he’s listening and he’s fully aware of our challenges. Complicating the homelessness is an opioid crisis, so mental health is all tied in with that, but it was very nice to receive $900,000 in funding.”
The funding Bigger referred to was announced on March 22 and is tied to a $12-million investment from the province that was announced on March 4.
Sudbury received a $900,000 slice of the $12-million pie and the funds will be distributed as follows:
• Health Sciences North/Greater Sudbury Police Services/OPP: Mobile Crisis Rapid Response-Crisis worker and addiction worker partner with police ($428,135)
• Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre: BEAR proposal (Belonging, Equity, Access and Respect)-Indigenous Outreach Program ($207,065.74)
• Canadian Mental Health Association: Off the Street Shelter - Additional COVID-19-related costs at the Off the Street shelter ($38,700)
• Canadian Mental Health Association: Community Mobilization Sudbury - Rapid Mobilization Table program support ($129,000)
• Samaritan Centre: Mental health and addictions worker ($7,700)
• YMCA Overnight Warming Centre: Pain management consultation/Psychotherapy education sessions ($10,000)
• SWANS (Sex Workers Advisory Network of Sudbury): Peer support/outreach program for women in the sex trade ($47,300)
• Ontario Health North: Virtual Care Project at 1960 Paris St. - Technology for improved virtual access project at social housing ($27,351)
Looking forward, Bigger said the task team will continue to look at how to best co-ordinate the resources within the city in order to provide the proper services to those who need them most.
“One of the things I noticed right away and one of the reasons for the task team, was to pull together the resources of the community and also to communicate so that we get the best results as opposed to one offs and people working across purposes,” said Bigger.
“We continue to work with different groups like the Elgin Street Mission and we’re looking for creative ways to expand the services of the Samaritan Centre; we work with ParkSide Centre, and these are groups we’ve been working with for many years, they’re not just appearing. They’ve been part of the support programs and they know the community quite well.”
