Officials in Timmins say they are not in a financial position to be able to carry the weight of ending homelessness and they need help.
"When you lead the province in the number of homeless people per thousand, you’re leading the province in ... other areas. So, number of visits to the emergency room, number of police calls related to vagrancy or whatever the issues might be," said Brian Marks, chief administrative officer for Cochrane District Social Services Administration Board (DSSAB).
The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) put out the call for resolutions two weeks ago and Cochrane social services and Timmins council have passed resolutions asking the province to do more to solve homelessness.
"What we’re trying to do is raise awareness of this important issue -- this economic, social and health crisis -- and what it signals to the provincial government that our members are willing to work with provincial government and other sector partners to address this issue and ultimately prevent, reduce and end homelessness in Ontario," said Michael Jacek, an AMO senior advisor.
The provincial budget is coming on March 23 and municipal leaders that spoke to CTV News said they will be interested to see what the Ford government's commitment to ending homelessness will be.
"Some portion of your tax dollar is going to homelessness and people should want a strategic approach and they should want an all of government approach," Marks said.
"It shouldn’t just be the peanuts that we get through a DSSAB to pay for homelessness or for homelessness prevention, everyone’s got to be on board."
Marks said homelessness is a Canada-wide issue which has increased 30y per cent in the last two years.
Jacek said AMO has four key asks of the province including an increase to social assistance rates, more affordable and supportive housing and to add more funding to the homelessness prevention program.
