A small rally was held on Tuesday morning outside Belleville City Hall, demanding a comprehensive audit into the money spent on the city’s homelessness support programs.
Denise McFarland is a Belleville resident who has lived experience with homelessness. She organized the rally, seeking accountability from Mayor Neil Ellis and the municipal government for a lack of results in reducing homelessness in the community, despite the resources put towards the issue.
“We want to pull up audit of all the money. There’s a lot of money missing. A lot of it. There’s no way it’s gone to that hub,” said McFarland.
At the rally she claimed all levels of government were misleading the population about the true scale of the homelessness problem in Belleville.
“Seeing this, it’s breaking my heart. I’m born and raised here. This isn’t my city anymore,” said McFarland. “I don’t even want to be here, it’s too depressing, it brings you down.”
Other requests at the rally included having people with lived experience involved in decisions involving homelessness, more emergency and transitional housing options, and expanded access to mental health care.
