Sunday sees the start of the annual conference of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO). Comprised of 444 municipalities, the conference offers the opportunity to discuss and make recommendations on a wide ranges of issues affecting cities and regions throughout the province.
Without doubt, high on their list will be the high costs of dealing with the massive opioid and homelessness crises Ontario is experiencing, costs that are being increasingly borne by property tax payers thanks to the downloading that started under Mike Harris and continues to this day. It is an unsustainable model, one that the Doug Ford government is loathe to acknowledge.
Cities and towns across Ontario saw at least 1,400 homeless encampments in their communities last year, according to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), which is asking the province for guidance on how to handle them, as well as more help to house and support people.
"While municipalities did not create the homelessness crisis, they are being forced to manage it without the resources or tools to sufficiently respond," the association wrote.
And the problem is only growing.
The big city mayors have launched a public campaign to put pressure on higher levels of government to provide increased and consistent funding to municipalities for supportive housing, harm reduction programs, crisis centres and mental health supports.
"Both levels of government have answered the call with some funding for programs over the last year. But it's not consistent or enough, it's piecemeal. Taking on the homelessness crisis takes a whole-of-government approach that spans multiple ministries and multiple levels of government," Meed Ward said.
Peter Bethlenthalvy, Ontario's finance minister, has offered some relief to Toronto and Ottawa, but seems reluctant to do much more than spend the $28 million he has allotted to fight the problems. Big city mayors say that is not nearly enough, given that there is an estimated 240,000 homeless people.
To put pressure on the government, the big-city mayors have launched a Solve the Crisis campaign, which I encourage you to visit and offer your perspective to your federal, provincial and municipal representatives.
The crisis being faced by Ontarians will not be solved by a few dollars more. Nothing less than a total re-uploading of social housing, infrastructure costs, etc. downloaded to municipalizes by Mike Harris will do.
And here's a final thought: for people like Marit Stiles and Bonnie Crombie, who talk a good opposition game, where is your policy on all of this?
