Hastings County’s Community and Human Services Committee is recommending county council support a resolution from Ajax calling on the province to provide much more support to municipalities struggling to deal with a growing homelessness problem.
At a meeting on Wednesday, the committee heard about a recent Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) report that estimated that province-wide, $11 billion would be needed over the next 10 years to effectively deal with a growing homeless population.
Last year the number of homeless in Ontario increased by an estimated 7.8 per cent.
Hastings County staff, using statistics from the AMO report, said locally around $23 million each year over 10 years would be necessary to match the supply of affordable and transitional housing in the county to the actual need.
Currently the county spends just over $6 million a year, although other organizations also provide housing supports.
Belleville councillor Paul Carr said it was crucial that more detailed information on service demands and costs be presented to the province by municipalities struggling to deal with homeless and addictions/mental health issues on the ground.
“I think just having those specific numbers would certainly go a long way with that advocacy as we talk about these resolutions. They’re good in and of themselves but without the specific dollar figures attached I think we’re just coming up short in some of our advocacy.”
