‘Restore safety and order’: Ontario spending $75M to remove public encampments

The Ontario government says it has begun flowing up to $75.5 cardinal to municipalities to assistance them region encampments successful nationalist spaces.

The authorities said successful a quality merchandise Monday that those funds, which were initially announced precocious past year, volition assistance cities and towns make much exigency structure spaces and affordable lodging units and “help reconstruct information and order” to Ontario’s parks and different nationalist spaces.

“Our authorities has delivered important enactment to municipalities to code the challenges encampments tin airs to nationalist information crossed Ontario,” Housing Minister Paul Calandra said successful the release.

“Mayors person asked america for further assistance and we person been wide that we volition supply backing to municipalities that amusement results successful winding down these sites. We tin nary longer judge encampments arsenic a spot to woody with mental health and addiction issues.”

The state said the backing that is being flowed to municipalities includes $50 cardinal for ready-to-build affordable lodging projects, allocated based connected however adjacent a task is to completion and its worth for money, arsenic good arsenic to assistance projects adjacent completion that are successful request of further backing to unfastened their doors faster.

Also, $20 cardinal volition beryllium fixed to cities to grow structure capableness and make further impermanent accommodation spaces. Finally, Ontario volition put $5.5 cardinal to apical up the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit (COHB) to escaped up exigency structure spaces for radical surviving successful encampments.

Earlier this month, the radical representing astir of the province’s municipalities issued a informing that Ontario’s homelessness situation is “at a tipping point.”

The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) said successful a study that the recorded fig of stateless radical is ticking towards 100,000, peculiarly successful the confederate parts of the province.

According to the municipal association’s numbers, much than 81,000 radical successful Ontario experienced homelessness past year. That’s an summation of 51 per cent compared with the astir 53,000 radical recorded successful 2016 and a 25 per cent summation since 2022.

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AMO said the study is grounds monolithic alteration is needed successful however the Ford authorities handles homelessness — and lodging much mostly – estimating section governments spent $2.1 cardinal connected homelessness and lodging past twelvemonth alone, backing that is mostly drawn from spot taxation revenues.

After months of pressure, Ontario announced its solution to stateless encampments astatine the extremity of past year.

Aside from the funds shared Monday, it unveiled caller powers for constabulary and a menace to section work managers who neglect to woody with stateless sites successful their cities.

The measure — which has not yet passed — is set to fortify penalties for radical who repeatedly interruption trespass laws and let constabulary and provincial offences officers to summons oregon apprehension radical utilizing amerciable drugs successful public, with penalties of up to $10,000 oregon six months successful jail.

The AMO study estimates Ontario needs to walk an other $11 cardinal implicit the adjacent decennary connected 75,000 affordable and supportive lodging units, portion different $2 cardinal is needed to location encampment residents.

–with files from Isaac Callan and Colin D’Mello