Newmarket Mayor John Taylor said there will need to be more done to add homelessness resources as York Region budgets for the term ahead.
The region plans to build $422.8 million in community housing projects reliant on senior government funding over the next 10 years, which could add 1,315 new units across the region. Another $31.8 million is allotted for homelessness services in 2023. Council discussed these during a Feb. 2 budget meeting.
But with a new Superior Court ruling potentially complicating how municipalities handle encampments, Taylor said more resources are needed for homelessness.
“No matter what, we need to seriously consider expanding in this area and making sure we (have) got a geographically dispersed set of resources,” Taylor said.
An Ontario judge last week denied the Region of Waterloo’s request to find that 50 individuals living in a homeless encampment were violating its trespassing bylaw. The judge ruled against the region and said the bylaw infringes on Charter rights due to a lack of adequate shelter spaces.
York Region commissioner of community and health services Katherine Chislett said this could impact the region in the future. She said they have about 160 shelter beds, expanded during the winter, that are full almost 100 per cent of the time. Cots open up in case of overflow, but she does not think these would pass a legal test.
“We do what we can. We don’t want to turn people away,” Chislett said. “But that may not be sufficient in the future under this court ruling.”
Taylor has said that this past summer, Newmarket experienced its highest level of homelessness and encampments. Local authorities did work dispersing encampments, but Taylor said it was done delicately with resources made accessible.
He said local government services do good work helping the homeless, but there will need to be more done with the court ruling applying pressure.
“I do think it speaks to the need to get a disbursement of resources to support people experiencing homelessness across the region,” he said. “We need to build more, and we need it to not all be in one location.”
Housing projects ongoing
Although the region is awaiting government funding to kickstart many affordable community housing and shelter projects, several will be constructed in the next decade.
Staff presented long-term budgeting for several identified projects, including a 97-unit project in Stouffville, a seniors facility in Unionville with 265 units, a replacement for Leeder Place and Sutton Youth Emergency Housing, and a new emergency and transitional housing facility in Aurora to replace East Gwillimbury’s Porter Place.
The current waitlist for community housing is 10 to 12 years depending on the location. Vaughan Regional Councillor Gino Rosati said that is too long.
“Many of those are seniors. They may not live long enough before they get into housing,” he said, adding that the upper levels of government are not providing the kind of funding that is needed. “Shelters are a human right, so is food on the table. Those human rights are not being met.”
The province has recently passed legislation, Bill 23, putting limits on charges for new development. Taylor noted that the province is now making housing services ineligible to be part of development charges. That is projected to cost the region’s housing services $109 million over 10 years.
On an average new home in the region, Taylor estimated the development charge specifically for housing services is less than $2,000.
“Every person in Ontario would be furious how little a difference it can make in any way (on housing prices),” Taylor said. “And yet, the incredible damage it’s going to do to our communities.”
