THUNDER BAY — The summer season is barely underway, but Thunder Bay has already seen a 60 per cent increase in the number of people staying in homeless encampments.
Elevate NWO, a key support organization for individuals staying in tents, has counted 88 people living in encampments so far.
By comparison, in late July 2022 there were only 55.
Holly Gauvin, executive director of Elevate NWO, said there are a dozen encampments scattered around the city.
In an interview she called the rising number of people living in tents "phenomenal," and said the trend will likely continue through the summer.
That's despite the fact that, over the longer term, there are prospects for improvement.
"The shelters are largely full ... It's kind of a difficult time. There's also not a lot of movement with respect to any sort of affordable housing in our community. We got the provincial announcement. DSSAB [district social services board] is working really hard with all the community partners. But these things take time, and so unfortunately we continue to see the numbers increase while we sort through how we're going to approach this housing crisis as a community."
Gauvin said she and the Elevate NWO outreach workers have encountered some distressing situations in their efforts to support the homeless.
"Some of the more heart-wrenching ones for me are some of the young women. These are people, including some younger than my own child, who have been forced into sex work," Gauvin said.
"Other ones that are really, really hard to see are some of our senior citizens that are experiencing homelessness, and are experiencing it long-term. And, of course, those people that are just harder to house in general because there may be multiple things occurring with them. There could be some outstanding debts, mental health issues, or behavioural issues, and there's just no place for them to go."
She said that for these individuals, "There's no program, there's no service that can support them beyond what we're doing in the camp right now. I love my staff for their dedication and commitment, but as much as we're doing, it's just not enough."
Elevate NWO is part of a community task force that includes a number of agencies throughout the city working to find housing solutions for residents of encampments.
"The need for affordable housing has never been stronger," Gauvin said.
This year, the District of Thunder Bay Social Services Administration Board has provided support for a "wraparound" effort that includes helping people get to important medical and social services appointments, checking on encampments daily and providing food, resources to cope with inclement weather, and the operation of a warming/cooling centre that now has a shower, thanks in part to additional funding from the City of Thunder Bay.
Still, she said "It's very hard to keep up with the needs and the demands, and that's the case for all community partners, the organizations that also do work in this area."
The recent announcement of the near-tripling of provincial funding for homelessness prevention in the Thunder Bay area has been described as a game-changer.
DSSAB CAO Bill Bradica called the funding increase "historic" and a sign that years of local advocacy had paid off.
The board has put out a call for expressions of interest from local agencies interested in building supportive housing, and hopes the first units will be available as soon as late next year.
Gauvin said she's encouraged to see "there's an appetite to move as quickly as possible on creating really robust solutions to the housing crisis, so our partners at DSSAB have taken it very seriously, and are working with all of us on the ground to get this to move forward."
