Calling on Ottawa and Queen’s Park to address homelessness and encampments
North Bay’s Deputy Mayor says she believes if the conditions that cause homelessness don’t change there are no solutions at the municipal level that will solve it.
Maggie Horsfield put forward a motion at Tuesday night’s council meeting calling on the provincial and federal governments to work with each other and municipalities to address the complex issues around homelessness and encampments.
“The scope and action needed to adequately address homelessness and encampments far exceeds the City of North Bay,” she says. “If we want to see meaningful action to address the root causes of encampments and homelessness, we need the provincial government to address income security, rent stabilization, food bank and soup kitchen usage, Ontario Disability Support Program and Ontario Works rates.”
Another suggestion from the big city mayors is to have one single government ministry deal with homelessness and addictions.
Horsfield says recently released Housing Ministry figures peg the number of homeless at a quarter of a million people.
"The number is about nine times higher than the Auditor General’s most recent estimate and still likely drastically undercounts the true number of people experiencing homelessness in the province,” she says.
In a recorded vote, council unanimously supported the motion.
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