THUNDER BAY — The Thunder Bay District Social Service Administration Board (TBDSSAB) is asking the province to address challenges with a number of social services.
Coun. Brian Hamilton, chair of the TBDSSAB, went to the 2025 Rural Ontario Municipal Association conference in Toronto this past week with six items to address with the provincial minister; however, they were only about to get three depositions.
Increasing shelter funding
Hamilton said he spoke with Michael Parsa, minister of child welfare and social services, about increasing the funding shelters get to for housing Ontario Works clients.
Hamilton said shelter rates have not seen an increase since 2001 and asked the minister what it would take to update the formula.
"There is some reticence in approaching social services through a new lens," he told Newswatch. "The situation around social services was markedly different 20 years ago than it is today. The situation is much more complex and we're seeing a need and pressure on the social services that we haven't ever before.”
Hamilton said the province wasn’t interested in looking at shelter rates at this time.
“They continuously point to other programs, particularly around employment services, that we should be looking and gearing our clients towards,” he said.
“We very politely reminded the province that many of our clients are not employment ready and they require additional support and services.”
Hamilton noted that having a shelter rate that does not reflect the current housing market does “a disservice to people's goals of life stabilization and does very little to support a pathway to independence.”
A release from custody strategy
Hamilton met with Solicitor General Michael Kerzner to address a release from custody strategy that would draw a connection between increasing emergency services calls and the lack of housing support.
He advocated that a release from custody strategy would better support people caught up in the cycle of the justice system, Hamilton said.
“I think even the police are extremely honest and transparent that there is a link between stabilized supported housed individuals and criminal activity in the justice system. So, we were there to make that case,” said Hamilton.
He said the minister was interested in continuing that work.
The city’s inter-governmental affairs committee also talked with Kerzner, particularly about acquiring funding from the province's Guns, Gangs and Violence Reduction Strategy.
Coun. Kasey Etreni told Newswatch that the province recognizes “the uniqueness of Thunder Bay's issue.”
"We need to recognize that there's lots of overlapping needs and so we were often going into ministers almost saying the same message about housing, the village, supporting policing, for example."
Upgrading the Landlord and Tenant Act
Hamilton spoke with Attorney General Doug Downey about possibly creating a mechanism for social services to address criminal activity and disturbances in social housing.
Currently, if there is an issue of criminal activity in a TBDSSAB housing unit, it could take up to seven months for TBDSSAB to go through the landlord and tenant board before taking action, according to Hamilton.
Hamilton said details are yet to come, but the attorney general's office is “ready to move with new creative solutions around the processes and ensuring social housing can be as responsive as possible to issues around disturbances.”
“One of the most critical advocacy pieces that we bring to the province is that we need more resources for supportive housing to support people where they live, especially, for the people that lack the life skills and agency to protect themselves from exploitation,” said Hamilton.
