The Trudeau government is threatening to bypass Queen’s Park in funding to address encampments in municipalities, Global News has learned, which could exclude the province from decisions about how the money should be spent.
In mid-September, Canada’s Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, Sean Fraser, sent a letter to provinces with an offer of $250 million to help find shelter for people living in encampments.
Fraser said that while the federal government initially sought cost-equalization agreements with provinces, the Ontario government did not respond to the offer, forcing Ottawa to go directly to municipalities.
“We will no longer wait for them to muster the political will to act as winter approaches and lives are at risk,” Fraser said in a statement shared with Global News.
An Ontario government source said talks had been ongoing between the two sides since Ottawa sent its initial letter on Sept. 18.
Two other provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, also did not respond and will be ignored, the federal government said.
With the arrival of colder weather, Fraser said the government would approach six municipalities, including Toronto, that could “rapidly adopt cost-equivalent responses” and would approach more cities with direct funding offers.
In an unrelated announcement in Toronto on Tuesday morning, city officials said they were increasing the capacity of temporary shelters as cold winter weather approached. The city said it would add 530 spaces by expanding programs that already exist and opening 24-hour respite sites.
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As part of the move, the city will reopen the temporary beds it used at Exhibition Place during the winter of last year. Currently, about 200 people in the city call the intake line per night, but they cannot be assigned a bed.
Fraser suggested that by not responding, the Ford government also risks having a direct say in how camp funds would be spent.
“If a province or territory partners with us, they will be able to select the communities that will receive funding from us,” Fraser said in the statement. “If they wish to opt out of a partnership with us, we will rely on the best available data to inform our decisions.”
Calgary, Edmonton, Regina and Saskatoon are also on the list of cities that will receive direct funding.
Global News reached out to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Ontario cities ask for help for encampments
The encampment problem has grown substantially in Ontario since the pandemic, and protests in big cities peaked this summer, when mayors banded together to demand the province take a coordinated approach and appoint a minister to oversee it.
Ahead of the annual meeting between municipalities and the province in Ottawa this summer, the group of big city mayors called for a coordinated response to address homelessness. They said the issue went beyond money and demanded a unified and planned approach.
“What is happening on our streets in this province is an unprecedented humanitarian crisis,” said Marianne Meed Ward, mayor of Burlington and president of Ontario’s big city mayors, during an event in Queen’s Park.
“There are too many people who are homeless, living in encampments or other unsafe conditions, and are struggling with mental health and addiction issues. This is growing and affects all the municipalities of our province: large and small, rural and urban.”
Last year, a total of 1,400 homeless encampments were established across the province, according to research published by the Association of Ontario Municipalities. The investigation found that these camps were located in both small towns and large cities.
The province responded by announcing it would ban supervised consumption sites near schools and spend approximately $380 million to create addiction centers with 375 units of “high-support” housing.
The latest real estate dispute between Ottawa and Ontario
The decision to bypass Queen’s Park with the latest money reflects a long back-and-forth this year over affordable housing funding.
In that case, Fraser initially told his Ontario counterpart, Paul Calandra, that he would not send the province the $357 million he expected for affordable housing projects. The feds said they would instead go directly to local service managers with the money.
The battle over that money came as Ottawa accused Ontario of failing to meet its obligations to use federal dollars to build tens of thousands of affordable homes.
Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie told Global News that the federal government found a “creative way to get around” the Ford government, a move she appears to agree with.
“If the middleman just doesn’t cooperate, if the middleman isn’t willing to cooperate? Of course,” Crombie told Global News.
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