St. Thomas and Elgin County say their efforts to end homelessness have reached a milestone. For the first time, more people are exiting homelessness than entering it. St. Thomas resident Matt Howes, 36, counts himself among the lucky ones. He tells CTV News he had been living on the street for half his life until three months ago, when he was placed in an Indwell supportive housing unit. While Howse says he’s happy to be there, he admits it has been a big adjustment. “It’s a process because you got to reintegrate yourself, how to get back into a housing situation when you’ve been on the street for a long time. And it’s definitely a relief off my shoulders. I love it,” Howse said. St. Thomas and Elgin Social Services says between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2026, 79 people moved from homelessness into housing, while 69 people became homeless during the same period. The community’s By-Name List, which tracks people experiencing homelessness, dropped to 86, a 34 per cent reduction compared to the same time last year. “You know what the answer to homelessness is? Housing,” remarked St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston. Mayor Preston attributes the success to working with community partners such as supportive housing provider Indwell, and the YWCA, which operates the new Tiny Hope project. “You know what your list says - how many people we must house. Well, how are we doing it, building that many housing units? Are we going to get it done? And we are. We’re now at that point where we continuously start to see numbers that respect what we’ve gotten done the whole work of the whole community,” Preston explained. Those who work on the frontlines of harm reduction, say housing those with addictions or mental health issues is not just about providing a roof over their heads. “We do see some people who tried one form of housing and it just isn’t the right fit for them, and they find themselves after a few months back out on the street. Either back at shelter, or back at camps. And it’s going to be a matter of finding the right fit for those individuals,” explained Amanda Zielinsky, board chair for The Nameless, a harm reduction outreach service in downtown St. Thomas. “The question is the whole continuum of care,” said Mike Toth, executive director of The Annex in downtown St. Thomas, an organization which counsels people with addictions. “What you’re hoping for is that you can get people into recovery, and through recovery, and back into a normal life- whatever that looks like. And housing is one of the first steps,” he said. The goal of St. Thomas Elgin Social Services is to reach functional homelessness by 2027, where total housing placement capacity reaches or exceeds the number of people experiencing homelessness. Matt Howes says it can’t be done without the type of wraparound supports he has come to depend on. “It’s a program that you have to put in to kind of get out of it. You can sit there and eventually you’ll probably get kicked out for not using the program. But you definitely have to be involved and you have to want to be there,” he said.
