Despite a rising demand for services, Halton Region is facing a nearly $7 million cut in funding from the federal government’s homelessness prevention program over the next four years.
Loss of the cash – which is used to fund supportive housing, provide street outreach and encampment prevention, and maintain emergency shelters – could lead to an increase in homeless, Halton staff and politicians are warning.
“The reduction is so great, you’d think homelessness is solved,” said Burlington councillor Rory Nisan. “If this money doesn’t come through, we’re going to have more homeless people on our streets.”
Councillors received the news in a report from Alex Sarchuk, the region’s commissioner of social and community services at their meeting on March 20.
Halton’s annual allocation of $4.2 million from the federal government’s Reaching Home program will be cut by five per cent to $4 million in 2024 and 2025.
For 2026 and 2027, the funding will drop by 77 per cent to about $960,000 each year.
“All communities across Canada have been given a similarly proportionate reduction,” noted Sarchuk. “This significant funding cut is expected to impact regional homelessness prevention programs and services.”
His report added that the program’s aim is “to reduce chronic homelessness across Canada by 50 per cent by 2028.”
Regional councillors approved a motion to write to Sean Fraser, the Liberal government’s minister of housing, infrastructure and communities, to ask for the cuts to be “immediately reviewed and reversed to recognize pressures on Halton Region’s emergency shelter, outreach and supportive housing programs.”
Oakville councillor Janet Haslett-Theall said a lack of ongoing and sustainable government funding “to deliver services that clearly everybody knows we need” is a widespread problem that drains municipal resources.
“We waste an enormous amount of energy and effort to try and do what’s right on behalf of our communities,” she said.
Funding homelessness prevention is both compassionate and fiscally wise, said Nisan.
As a member of the board of directors of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, he said he’s been told “you can spend $1 solving homelessness or you can spend $1.40 maintaining homelessness.”
Provincial homelessness grant
Halton also receives about $14.3 million each year from the provincial government to fund homelessness prevention programs.
The funding for next year remains at that level and does not reflect any increase to cover inflation or growth in need, said Sarchuk.
The money is used to help people who are homeless find housing and connect to social services, while also helping at-risk people retain housing.
For the coming year, the funding will be used to provide emergency shelter ($4 million), fund supportive housing programming ($3.2 million), fund outreach and community support programs ($1.5 million), and provide housing stability supports ($5 million).
Regional administration costs of $714,000 will also be covered from the grant.
Sarchuk’s report notes that an increase in local supportive housing is needed to prevent a rise in homelessness.
“The high cost of private market rental housing, the growing gap between incomes and rising housing costs, rapid population growth, as well as high supportive housing demand for individuals with mental health and addictions has made securing affordable housing more difficult,” his report notes.
“Additional purpose-built rental housing and supportive housing is required to more effectively serve individuals experiencing homelessness.”
In particular, there is “a significant gap in specialized supportive housing options for clients with chronic mental health and addictions,” says the report.
Construction on a 52-unit supportive housing building for seniors is currently underway on Kerr Street.
Read more here: Construction starts on new Kerr Street Seniors housing project
Halton’s 2023 homeless statistics
- The region received 2,455 shelter calls.
- Oakville’s Lighthouse Shelter, a 40-bed shelter for single men, provided support to 350 people, with overflow diverted to hotels.
- A 45-room emergency supportive housing facility in Burlington helped 94 families and 76 single women (378 total individuals), with hotels used for overflow demand.
- Emergency shelter intakes rose by 16 per cent, from 390 households to 451 households.
- The emergency shelter system supported 82 newcomers and asylum seekers, representing 11 per cent of all intakes.
- Support to stabilize existing housing diverted 1,514 Halton households from shelter.
- Outreach programs helped 245 people move from some form of unsheltered homelessness into emergency shelter