Minister says homeless concerns ‘false’
Clark denying claims Niagara Region shortchanged in funding
Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark is denying claims that Niagara Region is being shortchanged in homelessness service funding.
“Claims that the Region of Niagara receives less homelessness funding compared to regions of similar sizes are false and misleading,” Clark said in a statement sent to The Standard on Friday.
He was referring to a discussion at a regional public health and social services committee meeting on Tuesday, when regional councillors voted to direct regional Chair Jim Bradley and Niagara’s senior staff to continue advocating for more Community Homelessness Prevention Initiative (CHPI) funding, to put the region on par with other municipalities of a similar size and need.
During the meeting, St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik estimated that Niagara had been shortchanged by upwards of $28 million since the CHPI program was introduced by the Liberal government in 2013.
And responding to Clark’s statement, Sendzik said: “There’s nothing misleading or false in our comments.”
Niagara Falls city councillors also took a stand on the issue Tuesday evening, supporting a similar motion by Coun. Lori Lococo to ask the province to review its formula for allocating homelessness funding, in the hope of ensuring the Region receives its share.
Lococo’s Niagara Falls council motion includes comparisons to other municipalities that contradict Clark’s assessment. Her motion lists Niagara’s CHPI funding allotment at $17.52 per capita, compared to per capital allotments of $26.83 in Windsor, $19.96 in Waterloo, and $36.59 in Hamilton.
That information, however, was contradicted by Clark who said the $7,536,433 in CHPI funding Niagara received for 2019-2020 — poised to increase to $7,847,786, for 2020-21 — “is the second highest funding per capita in
Ontario for a regional municipality under this program.”
Bradley said he suspects the disparity may be the result of Clark receiving “incomplete” information from ministry staff.
“There is further information that would certainly point in the direction that the Niagara Region has taken over the years,” he said.
Bradley said provincial funding was allocated based on metrics like total population, social assistance caseload, core housing need and poverty, “Niagara in every scenario would receive significantly more money than it does currently.”
But Clark said allocations are already calculated through a formula “that uses evidencebased indicators to reflect relative need across Ontario for both people experiencing homelessness and people atrisk of homelessness.”
Bradley said Niagara representatives — including himself while he served as St. Catharines MPP — have repeatedly asked the province to address Niagara’s funding shortfall, since well before the current system was created. And in the past, the concerns and information shared with the government about the funding model have never been disputed.