No single level of government can address the homelessness crisis on their own.
It’s on this point that Ward 5 Coun. Mike Parent launched a round of advocacy on behalf of the City of Greater Sudbury, during Tuesday’s city council meeting.
Seconded by Mayor Paul Lefebvre and receiving unanimous support from his colleagues, Parent tabled a motion during Tuesday’s meeting which calls on the federal and provincial governments to “work collaboratively with each other and municipalities to address the “complex issues” that surround homelessness.
It’s the next step in the city’s plan to bring a “functional” end to homelessness in Greater Sudbury by 2030, which city council approved in May.
(A “functional” end, meaning a homeless community of three people or fewer, with homelessness a rare, brief and non-recurring thing.)
The plan carries a projected price tag of $350 million, which Lefebvre clarified when the plan was approved would not be covered by the municipality alone, with the potential existing for senior levels of government to pick up more than two-thirds of the total cost.
“What usually happens is, the feds pay for the capital, the province pays for the operation, and we’re there to support and administer it for everybody,” Lefebvre said at the time.
“We’ll be paying for the wrap-around services ... hopefully with the province.”
Provincial funds aren’t exactly flowing into Greater Sudbury, with a lack of provincial support effectively shutting down the city’s supervised consumption site and the city still advocating for provincial funding to operate the 40-unit transitional housing complex on Lorraine Street.
(The federal government contributed $7.4 million toward the transitional housing complex.)
Significant investment needs to take place, Parent said, including a revamp of all existing services to ensure there’s less overlap and that any gaps in service are filled.
This, he explained, is in response to a report last year which counted 165 community organizations delivering 723 programs for vulnerable residents within Greater Sudbury.
“Throwing more money at the current solutions I don’t think is going to get us any new outcomes,” he said. “What we’re seeing is a lot of money being spent and things getting worse.”
The city’s latest homelessness report card noted that homelessness is on the rise in Greater Sudbury, with approximately 200 people living in encampments as of last year — a significant jump from the 77 recorded at the same time of year in 2023.
Although the transitional housing complex currently under construction on Lorraine Street is a step in the right direction and may have been adequate when it was approved in 2021, Parent said its 40 units now appear vastly inadequate.
City staff are currently working on drafting business cases to get rolling on the city’s goal of ending homelessness by 2030, but Parent clarified there will be limited municipal funds to contribute.
Next year’s tax levy increase is already slated at 7.3 per cent, with Lefebvre requesting staff to cut $8.5 million to hit a 4.9-per-cent increase.
“Even though we’re trying to keep the tax levy as low as possible ... we’re seeing the collateral costs of people experiencing homelessness,” Parent said.
“These costs are happening regardless of whether we can afford them, and I think what we have to focus on is the long-term strategy, where between now and 2030 we start to reduce those reactive costs and start to invest more into the proactive, root-cause issues and reduce those and reduce homelessness.”
To accomplish this goal, he said the federal and provincial governments need to work with the city.
Parent’s full motion, approved unanimously by city council on Tuesday, was as follows:
WHEREAS on behalf of its municipal members, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) is urgently calling for Provincial and FEderal leadership and action to address the growing crisis of homelessness encampments in communities across Ontario.
AND WHEREAS on July 2, 2024, AMO released a new policy paper, “Homeless Encampments in Ontario: A Municipal Perspective,” detailing the state of this crisis and evidence-based actions that must be taken.
AND WHEREAS Municipal governments are at the front lines of the homelessness crisis without the resources or tools to support our residents and communities.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the City of Greater Sudbury ask the Federal and Provincial governments to work collaboratively with each other and municipalities to address these complex issues that require comprehensive responses from all orders of government to work together.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT this motion be provided to the Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister, the Honourable Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario, the Honourable Jagmeet SIngh, MP, the Honourable Pierre Poilievre, MP, the Honourable Marc Serre, MP for Nickel Belt, the Honourable VIviane Lapointe, MP for Sudbury, the Honourable France Gelinas, MPP for Nickel Belt, the Honourable Jamie West, MPP for Sudbury, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities and the Rural Ontario Municipal Association.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
