Grey County and the Western Ontario Warden’s Caucus are the latest to join the Association of Municipalities of Ontario in calling for the provincial and federal governments to work with municipalities on efforts to increase the supply of housing, and for it to tackle the homelessness crisis in Ontario.
Some communities and organizations in Grey Bruce are receiving a letter from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) calling for greater efforts to address homelessness.
Grey County Warden Brian Milne says, “Everyone deserves a safe and affordable place to call home. As homelessness continues to rise, municipalities need more support from upper levels of government to solve this important issue. Grey County has committed to doing its part and we hope the federal and provincial governments will do the same.”
Meanwhile, Saugeen Shores council will address a motion set to come before them at a future meeting. On Monday, Councillor Dave Myette introduced a notice of motion, which was seconded by Councillor Bud Halpin.
The motion, based on AMO’s statement says, “the homeless crisis is taking a devastating toll on families and communities, undermining a healthy and prosperous Ontario,” it claims the crisis is, “the result of the underinvestment and poor policy choices of successive provincial governments,” and says addressing homelessness requires a range of housing, social service, and health solutions from the government. It says local communities do not have the resources, capacity, or tools to address the complex challenge.
The motion says, “leadership and urgent action are needed from the provincial government on an emergency basis to develop, resource, and implement a comprehensive plan to prevent, reduce, and ultimately end homelessness in Ontario.”
It’s calling on the provincial government to urgently, “acknowledge that homelessness in Ontario is a social, economic, and health crisis, commit to ending homelessness in Ontario and work with AMO and a broad range of community, health, Indigenous and economic partners to develop, resource, and implement an action plan to achieve this goal.”
AMO is a non-profit organization representing almost all of Ontario’s 444 municipal governments.
