THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay Mayor Ken Boshcoff says there needs to be a total reset in order to find workable solutions to deal with Ontario’s homelessness problem.
Boshcoff was part of the Ontario Big City Mayors’ Caucus that last Friday issued a resolution calling on the provincial and federal government to give communities more teeth to be able to find workable solutions, citing the fact there are 1,400 homeless encampments across Ontario and the problem continues to grow.
“I think over the past number of years (it’s been) very exasperating trying to deal with this issue, and especially for municipalities having the capacity to fund the necessary support systems to address the issue properly and turn it around, as opposed to (being) stop-gap,” Boshcoff said in an interview on Monday with CKPR Radio.
It’s not going to be easy, added the mayor, hours before council is scheduled to deliberate on a temporary homeless village that could add up to 100 shelter units on the city’s south side as a measure aimed at helping eliminate tent villages in Thunder Bay.
The city has estimated the project could cost between $4 million and $6 million, depending on the location, but they want senior level of governments to ultimately cover the cost.
“It requires a full-scale effort that really is provincial in scope for their assistance on the health front and on the housing front,” Boshcoff said.
The mayor said it’s not necessarily a request for more power at the municipal level, but rather a request for more resources.
“Municipalities just can’t do it from the property-tax base,” he said.
Last Friday, OBCM issued a lengthy resolution calling on the province to act to end the crisis.
It includes asking the province to take on intervenor status in the case of court decisions that restrict municipalities’ ability to control and restrict encampments. They’re also asking for an update of the Mental Health Act to strengthen the system of mandatory community-based and residential mental health and addictions care.
The organization has asked the province to appoint a minister to be made both responsible for homelessness and given the appropriate tools to find solutions.
They’ve also asked for an action table involving leaders from all three levels of government and for senior levels of government to provide the necessary funding required by communities of all sizes in Ontario to enact the solutions to end the crisis.
OBCM also wants the province to develop and fund compassionate care and treatment programs, the creation of diversion courts and for a review and possible update to the Trespass to Property Act, and for legislation to be put in place outlawing open and public use of illicit drugs and public intoxication, which Boshcoff said he fully supports.
Finally, the resolution also requests funding to support the quick build of supportive housing units.
Boshcoff said it’s imperative that the province acts.
“We’ve been spending millions. Every city and municipality is spending hundreds of thousands or millions or both on the medical side and on the housing side,” he said.
“And the issue is just so immense now, people are really … searching for solutions and there is no cheap way of doing this.”
