Provincial boost to homelessness funding still short of need: local official

Millions of dollars in additional provincial funding has been offered to Social Services, allowing it to allocate more resources toward supportive housing and homelessness prevention programs.

In the fall, District of Sault Ste. Marie Social Services Administration Board (DSSAB) laid out a $6.3 million wish list to deal with homelessness in Sault Ste. Marie.

The DSSAB had expected to receive just over $1.8 million from Ontario’s Homelessness Prevention Program (HPP), but after February was notified that figure had been topped up to over $3.2 million.

“It’s a big boost, however it’s still half of what we articulated our need was to make a visible difference in on-street homelessness,” DSSAB chair Luke Dufour told SooToday by phone. “The plan we are implementing is by definition less than that bar of making that really visible difference — but it will help, definitely, and we are happy about it.”

Dufour said the funding is a three-year commitment by the provincial government.

“It’s definitely a big boost and very appreciated, but it’s about 50 per cent of what we determined was our ultimate need. So we still have work to do,” he said.

The DSSAB is the service system manager for the funding, which will be delivered through various community partners that are yet to be identified.

Reached during a recent unrelated funding announcement, Sault MPP Ross Romano said his government is putting a lot of dollars into the challenges of homelessness and preventing homelessness.

 “It’s several different pieces that are going to help us in this area and no one individually will solve the problem, but collectively I hope we are making a tremendous impact on helping those dealing with mental health and addictions related issues, homelessness and all of those who are looking for help, who need help,” said Romano. “We want to do everything we can do to help those individuals so they can help themselves as well.”

In April and May, Social Services staff began community conversations with partner agencies on how the funding will flow into the community.  A final plan is expected to be presented at the DSSAB’s July meeting.

Current staff recommendations for the increased funding include: an increase in supportive housing units, increasing funding for the Indigenous community, increase homelessness prevention team supports, increase housing assistance, as well as capital investments and retrofits.

“These are the buckets we are going to be investing in, I believe in July we are going to get the specific details of the service providers and specific dollar amounts,” said Dufour.

He particularly likes the significant investments in homelessness prevention.

“Which we know is going to pay much greater dividends later on down the road,” said Dufour. “I am specifically most pleased to see a carve out for Indigenous youth homelessness to be offering deeper subsidies to make sure some of the most vulnerable people in our community are not being forced to rent in places they really don’t belong.”

“Not only is it putting money in Indigenous services, which needs to be a front-and-centre focus for our board, but it is also prioritizing youth who are aging out of care and we know are statistically the most vulnerable to become chronically homeless as adults,” he added.