Homelessness an `everybody issue': FONOM prez
Homelessness and how to address it were big topics this week at the annual conference of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities.
While the meeting spanned several matters of interest for leaders from all over northern Ontario, homelessness was a recurrent topic of discussion, as it has impacted nearly every community, no matter how small.
The City of Greater Sudbury was invited to share its approach with delegates — an approach staff said hinges on collaboration, partnership and relationship.
“There's a lot of people here representing smaller communities and I think collaboration is even more important in their communities,” Gail Spencer, Greater Sudbury's manager of housing stability and homelessness, stressed.
Spencer said across Northern Ontario the number of people experiencing homelessness is on the rise. “This is a chronic social issue and it's one municipalities cannot solve alone.”
As of May 1, there are 231 people who are considered homeless in Greater Sudbury, she said, and “more than 50 per cent of these individuals are living in encampments or unsheltered outdoors.”
The city has a roster of about 70 shelter beds, but as Spencer noted, Tom Davies Square has also implemented a voluntary by-name list, which helps keep track of people who are homeless and may wish to secure shelter. It allows city staff to work with its community partners “who act as a front door for people to get into homelessness supports.”
The agencies add individuals to the by-name list. They are then assessed and folded into community support systems.
Spencer said the list is successful because it is built on relationships, trust and transparency, and the data gleaned from it has been beneficial.
“We use that information to monitor our outcomes and how we're doing; to inform council reports; to apply for funding; and to figure out where we're going to allocate our resources,” she said.
Homelessness has been a part of the city's fabric since the days when young men arrived by the dozens, seeking any kind of job in the fledgling — but bustling — mining industry. In those days, the word Inco hung in the air like a sweet nectar.
Danny Whalen, president of FONOM, told The Star he hoped Queens Park would acknowledge the impact of homelessness, mental illness and addiction on Northern communities. In his own community of Temiskaming Shores, with a population of just 9,700, there are 24 people who are homeless.
“That's a lot for a town of our size,” he said. “It's an everybody issue.”
When the pandemic struck in 2020, homelessness in Canadian communities grew more visible and as we began to acknowledge how dangerous communal living environments could be, the need for affordable and attainable housing grew more evident. Tent encampments were established in many public parks in numerous cities.
In Greater Sudbury, a sprawling encampment spiralled outward from Memorial Park and at one point there were tents inside the courtyard at Tom Davies Square.
“In 2021, our city had a large encampment with more than 80 people living downtown in Memorial Park,” Cindy Junkala, the city's co-ordinator of shelters and homelessness, told the FONOM audience. “We had many concerns with people living in this area — one was that a daycare shared space within the park. There was increasing violence and drug use within the park; and there were hazardous conditions for everyone, caused by unsafe cleaning and cooking measures within the tents and structures themselves.”
Junkala said some residents of the encampment were also accessing electricity — illegally and dangerously. She also noted the park was “overrun with garbage and bio-hazards, and it became an environmental concern.”
The situation was complicated. People were weary of accepting family or loved ones into their homes, due to COVID-19. Shelters were full to capacity and there really was nowhere to go, since many community agencies were closed due to the pandemic. Bylaw and police officers had been told to “use an enforcement approach, removing tents and individuals from the park with little to no notice, and without a location for people to go to.”
The city was under pressure to devise a real solution. It hired Iain De Jong, a homelessness consultant, who advised the city to form a leadership table and to liquidate the park only as a last resort.
Junkala said the city quickly converted 30 two-bedroom units into one-bedroom units. “This allowed many individuals to move into social housing within a few months,” she pointed out.
The city launched a flex-fund, which enabled people to return home or to move to a community where they could receive support. It also established a bridge housing program, “whereby people living in shelters, who had a confirmed housing offer within a short period of time would be able to access a hotel room,” while waiting for their accommodations. Junkala said this freed up space within shelters for those in encampments.
Junkala said these measures allowed the city and its partners to support everyone living in the encampment “to leave Memorial Park without any enforcement.”
Signs were posted around the park in early 2022 alerting residents about an April 1 cleanup, at which time any property on site, including the tents and belongings of homeless people, was to be removed.
On that date the few remaining residents left and workers erected fencing “to allow for maintenance work and ground restoration to begin over the coming weeks and months,” city hall told The Star at the time.
“I think there were three people left on March 31, 2022, that were not forcibly removed,” said Spencer. “They chose to leave without the police having to remove them.”
Alongside homelessness, Spencer said Greater Sudbury has been hit hard by the opioid crisis.
In January 2022, the city started using a local hotel to provide accommodations for 13 individuals deemed to be of the highest need.
“They were experiencing chronic homelessness; they had physical health, mental health and substance abuse issues; and they were living unsheltered, outdoors,” Spencer explained.
It took time and effort to explain the benefits of the program to the unsheltered community. Some were hesitant, others were untrusting. Some did not see the benefit. But staff persevered. “We've already seen some really exciting outcomes. There have been 67 participants in the program, with a total of 10 who have already stayed 11 or 12 months,” Spencer said. “Another four have successfully transitioned into the community, into housing, who have remained housed for more than six months.”
I think there were three people left on March 31, 2022, that were not forcibly removed.
Looking forward, the city is in the midst of building a 40-unit transitional home on Lorraine Street, near the Lasalle/Notre Dame intersection. Once the building is ready, it will provide a safe home, with wrap-around services, for those suffering from addiction or mental-health issues.
“Housing is the only solution to homelessness,” Spencer told reporters following her public address. “That's where we need to be focusing our funds and our attention.”