MP Fragiskatos: London receiving millions to address homeless encampments

$5 million from the fed for homelessness The Canadian government will help London with homeless encampments through $5 million in funding – CTV's Daryl Newcombe explains.

Less than a week before municipal budget deliberations, London North Centre MP Peter Fragiskatos has confirmed that London will receive new federal funding to address homeless encampments.

“We are very close to finalizing a formal agreement between the federal government and the local municipal government in the amount of $5 million for dealing with the encampment issue in our community,” explained Fragiskatos, who also serves as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Housing, Infrastructure, and Communities.

The announcement puts to rest speculation about whether London will receive federal funding to address homeless encampments before the start of winter.

London’s share of the new $250 million federal program can be used by the municipality to support additional shelter spaces, supportive housing, treatment programs, mental health supports, and other wrap-around services.

No more than 15 per cent of the money can go towards administrative costs.

“There's an expectation here that nothing is done to entrench encampments,” Fragiskatos emphasized. “It's not dignified for anyone. It's not good for the community. It's certainly not good for those living in camps.”

Spread over two years, the funding announcement represents an additional $2.5 million annually for city hall to allocate towards the homelessness crisis.

Last month, the mayor’s draft budget did not include a $4.2 million funding request to keep 90 overnight spaces open at Ark Aid Street Mission year-round.

Deciding if the spaces will remain open was expected to be a contentious part of budget deliberations next week.

“This gives us many more options than we had last week and puts council in a much better position to have the available funds to actually try to solve some of the challenges we know we have,” Morgan said after Fragiskatos’ announcement.

Fragiskatos said London’s share of the encampment fund would have been doubled if Ontario had participated in a matching agreement with the federal government.

“It could have been $10 million if the Ford government was wanting to match,” he added. “Most other provinces have done so - we're trying to take care of this issue right across the country, but there's still time for the Ford government to come to the table. And the funding can be used in ways that they've called for, for example, helping people to get out of camps and access treatment services.”

Fragiskatos also announced that the federal government is topping up the money London receives from the Reaching Home Program which will further address the need to get people out of encampments and into appropriate care.

The total allocation for London will grow to $45.1 million over the period from 2019 to 2028 (from an original total of $33.8 million).

“An additional $11.3 million we're also making available through to 2028. That's funding that can go to local organizations on the front lines of addressing homelessness,” he explained.

Ark Aid Street Mission’s Sarah Campbell told CTV News that the organization is incredibly grateful to the federal government for stepping up with a plan to support London’s encampment strategy and Reaching Home initiatives.

“This gives council every opportunity to fund the Ark’s business case for two years, even if services need to be scaled to balance indoor and encampment basic needs efforts,” Campbell stated.

However, she said the funding falls short of meeting the full scope of need in the community.

“My greatest hope is that the provincial government will match this bold federal move,” Campbell urged.

Morgan said the total financial impact of the announcements could mean about $4.5 million dollars more each year in the short-term to boost London’s efforts to address encampments.

“That puts us in a spot to perhaps not do everything that was contemplated in the [budget] business cases and the plans that came to council, but actually gets us a long way to figuring out some solutions,” the mayor added.

Morgan said city staff will spend the weekend developing a plan to best utilize the new federal funding.