Ottawa offers London $16M over four years to tackle homelessness

London could get $16 million from the federal government over the next four years to tackle the city’s homelessness crisis, a local MP announced Friday.

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London North Center Liberal MP Peter Fragiskatos said the city is eligible to receive $5 million over two years from a new $250-million federal fund to address homeless encampments.

The city also will get an $11.3-million top-up over the next four years for local social agencies from the Reaching Home fund, a program aimed at halving chronic homelessness in Canada by 2028.

Ottawa already granted London $33.7 million for 2019-28; the top-up brings the total to more than $45 million.

“We’ve got to get people out of those camps, into shelter spaces, into housing, ideally, by either building that housing or taking advantage of sites that are already there,” Fragiskatos said. “It will be up to the city to decide exactly how can use this funding, we’re letting them have the flexibility.”

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Both funds have wide criteria based on getting people indoors, he said. Money can be spent to connect Londoners to low-income housing, enhance or expand shelters, or build supportive housing, for example.

Ottawa and London haven’t signed off on the $5-million deal yet, Fragiskatos said, but are committed to getting money flowing before winter.

That’s because the feds sought to partner with provinces to have them match their piece of the $250-million fund before sending it to cities, but Ottawa was unable to reach an agreement with Queen’s Park, he said.

“Time is close to running out,” to get funds out before winter, Fragiskatos said. “But I choose to be optimistic, I am doing whatever I can to communicate to Queen’s Park.”

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Justine Teplycky is spokesperson for Ontario’s housing minister, Paul Calandra. In a statement, Teplycky said their office was willing to work with federal housing minister Sean Fraser until his office “suddenly decided to refuse to partner” with Queen’s Park.

“We have been more than ready to reach an agreement with the federal government for several weeks now,” Teplycky said.

The announcement is welcome news for Mayor Josh Morgan. Council was aiming to lobby Ottawa for a piece of the new $250-million pie to fund 90 shelter beds run by Ark Aid Street Mission, in addition to a new $2.3-million encampment strategy.

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“I’m very happy and very grateful that the federal government. . . has moved very quickly on this and found a pathway to including London,” Morgan said. “We can put this to use to help people in encampments in the city and to help people come indoors through the winter.”

Brought online last winter, Ark Aid is seeking $4.3 million a year to run 60 beds at 430 William St and 30 beds at its 696 Dundas St. location year-round, which it says would save money compared to a limited winter response.

The beds are set to run out of funding by Dec. 31, and the city has no other winter homeless response planned.

“This is a huge relief,” said Sarah Campbell, executive director of Ark Aid Street Mission. “These funds are a significant step forward in providing much-needed assistance to those living outdoors and creating indoor spaces for our most vulnerable residents.”

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The money won’t cover its entire shelter request and support for encampments at the same time, but it’s a start and gives city hall something to work with, Campbell said.

“There are some tough decisions to make, because it’s not enough to do everything. This gives council every opportunity to fund the Ark Aid business case for two years, even if services need to be scaled within a balance of indoor and encampment basic needs efforts.”

But the federal funding should just be the beginning, Campbell said.

“There’s an opportunity for the provincial government to step forward and help us cross the finish line. We should put as much pressure out there as we can. Together, we can reduce encampments and offer more comprehensive support to Londoners experiencing homelessness.”

Morgan confirmed that both Ark Aid’s beds and the encampment strategy would be eligible to tap these new funds. The job is now to hammer out the details, and get agreements put in place to let the money flow.

“We’ll come back with some options for council to consider next week in the budget discussions,” he said.

With files from Randy Richmond

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to include comment from Ontario’s housing ministry.

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