The City of Belleville’s Understanding Homelessness Task Force held its first meeting of 2026 on Wednesday.
The mayor’s taskforce, consisting of city leadership as well as community leaders, had the chance to speak with Canadian Mental Health Association – Hastings Prince Edward CEO Lisa Ali, Belleville Quinte West Community Health Centre Executive Director Sheila Braidek, Bridge Integrated Care Hub Director Ashley Vader, and Hastings-Quinte Paramedic Services Deputy Chief of Education and Professional Standards Danielle Spitzig.
Throughout the meeting, guests spoke about a breakdown in the system regarding mental health and addictions.
Brandi Hodge, the executive director of United Way Hastings & Prince Edward, asked about people experiencing homelessness continuing to fall through the cracks after accessing the HART hub, noting that the building was intentionally designed as a low barrier access point and never intended to be a one stop solution
“So when we’re looking at, how do people continually fall through the cracks? Yes, they can come to any components of our HART hub for that initial support, oftentimes crisis,” Ali said.
“But that kind of treatment stream of detox, withdrawal management, ongoing supportive housing just doesn’t exist here.”
Ashley Vader noted it was something that was being seen at The Bridge.
“Specifically with seniors being released from hospital with ailments such as dementia and Alzheimer’s,” Vader noted.
“We’ve seen three individuals in their 60s either claiming to have a diagnosis of dementia or symptoms of those ailments and so those are some of the significant gaps that we’re seeing in, you know, transitioning from hospital care into long-term care. There are some supports in place, but not enough for the numbers that we’re starting to see.”
Belleville Police Chief Murray Rodd spoke about a system in British Columbia of people who need to be “given a timeout” with no choice in receiving an assessment or treatment, asking the panel what their thoughts were in advocating or supporting that idea to the degree that it may be necessary.
Sheila Braidek with the Belleville Quinte West Community Health Centre said neither she nor her association supported the idea of mandatory treatment.
“In our experience, it doesn’t have the success that we imagine that it might,” Braidek explained.
“Making treatment available in a very robust way, as one part of a continuum of connections and interventions, I think, is the approach that I would endorse, and I think that there’s more evidence to point that in there in as a positive direction, rather than a mandatory treatment sort of an approach.”
Councillor Garnet Thompson asked whether there was a way that the city and/or community partners could work better with encampments.
Danielle Spitzig, who also oversees the Community Paramedic Program, including the Hart Hub outreach team, says some people can thrive in that environment.
“Some people don’t want to go to the warming centre or the shelters. Some are on bans for a period of time, they have to go somewhere, so they’re going to gravitate towards an encampment,” Spitzig said.
“We provide the necessities for medical care. We meet them where they’re at to provide the wound care or their overdose management. So I absolutely think if we put more investments into making sure that they’re run safely, and they have the resources and the tools that they need, I think it’s going to be part of society until we solve the housing issues.”
The taskforce’s next meeting is scheduled for January 21, 2026.
The full video from the meeting will be available at the City of Belleville’s website.
