Advocates working to fight homelessness say a report released this week by Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) confirms the reality they see on a daily basis, and highlights the challenges they've worked for years to inform decision-makers.
The report, released Thursday, paints a grim picture of the province at the “tipping point of its homelessness crisis.” It says, based on data collected from Ontario's 47 municipal service managers, more than 81,000 Ontarians were homeless in 2024 — an increase of 25 per cent from 2022.
Of those, more than 41,000 experienced chronic homelessness.
“Sadly, I'm not surprised,” said Terry Kelford, co-chair of the National Alliance to End Rural and Remote Homelessness.
The AMO report says rural communities have seen the fastest growing levels of homelessness, a reality Kelford knows well, having spent the last 25 years watching the situation evolve.
She said she was pleased to see the AMO report highlight the lack of shelter space in rural communities, an ongoing challenge for her group.
“At this time, 25 years ago, the reason we founded (Community Coalition to Fight Homelessness) was because we were putting kids on Greyhound buses and sending them to Ottawa or Kingston, because we didn't have any support or services here,” Kelford said.
She also said that rural communities have high rates of domestic violence and poverty and low rates of education. Hospital emergency room closures, like those afflicting southwestern Ontario cities, also contribute to unsafe conditions for people experiencing rural homelessness, she said.
“Also, when you look at it from a federal or provincial policy perspective, rural communities are often overlooked when it comes to capital programs and financial programs to support homeless people,” Kelford said.
The importance of policy decisions and who pays the bill was a key focus of the AMO report. It warned about “municipalities bearing a greater share of the overall financial burden” of fighting homelessness.
That section of the report stands out for Abe Odshoorn, an associate professor at Western University's School of Nursing in London, Ont. He said that according to the report, the province did not pay its share of the expenses.
“We see the federal contribution increase by 10 times (since 2016). We see the municipal contribution increase by about four times, and then we see the provincial contribution increase by only about 2.5 times,” said Odshoorn, whose research focuses on Homelessness, service model outcomes and policy decisions.
Of the $4.1 billion spent by Ontario's three levels of government in 2024, municipal governments spent $501 million on homelessness programs, while the province spent $700 million. At the same time, the province spent $319 million on housing projects, compared to $1.6 billion spent by municipalities.
“Since the province is actually primarily responsible for housing, to have them do the least in terms of responding with finances is, I think, a beautiful statement,” Odshoorn said.
According to the AMO, the stakes will rise further with homelessness trebling to 294,000 by 2035.
This requires a fundamentally different approach to addressing the crisis, one that prioritizes long-term housing solutions over temporary measures or police solutions. It said it would require an $11-billion investment over 10 years to create more than 75,000 affordable and supportive housing units.
Municipalities also said they need about $2 billion over eight years to ensure that all people living in camps are properly housed.
Kelford agrees with the prognosis, and says more housing is definitely at the core of solving the problem.
“Unless home prices drop dramatically and rent prices drop, I think we're going to continue to have this growing problem. I don't think people can survive on the minimum wage or social support services that we have,” Kelford said. .
“If we don't get on top of those two things, there will be no end to the growth of the case.”
