The Municipality of Chatham-Kent is joining mayors across Ontario in urging the provincial government to increase funding and supports to address what municipal leaders describe as a growing homelessness, mental health and addictions crisis affecting communities of all sizes.
Mayor Darrin Canniff has signed on to the Ontario’s Big City Mayors’ renewed Solve the Crisis campaign, which highlights the pressures municipalities face as frontline responders to a worsening humanitarian and community safety emergency.
At a meeting held last week, Ontario’s Big City Mayors passed a motion calling on the Government of Ontario to declare a state of emergency related to homelessness driven by the mental health and addictions crisis. Municipal leaders say such a declaration would acknowledge the severity of the situation and allow for a more coordinated and properly resourced response across the province.
Through the campaign, Ontario’s Big City Mayors and member municipalities, including Chatham-Kent, are calling on the province to expand mental health and addictions funding, increase the number of HART Hubs in communities facing growing needs, establish a provincial winter response plan, and develop a long-term strategy to address homelessness while supporting municipalities delivering front-line services.
“Municipalities are doing everything we can, but we are past the point where local resources can’t keep pace with the need,” said Canniff. “Here in Chatham-Kent, we see the impacts of homelessness, mental health, and addictions every day. Our staff, community partners, local businesses, and first responders are stretched thin. We need the province to step up with long-term, sustainable funding and a coordinated plan so we can provide the supports our most vulnerable residents deserve.”
Ontario’s Big City Mayors launched the Solve the Crisis campaign last year to draw attention to the growing number of Ontarians experiencing homelessness, mental health challenges and addictions. Municipalities, service providers and residents across the province joined the call for stronger provincial action. In response, the province introduced the HART Hub program, which consolidated supports under one ministry and created community-based hubs intended to reduce pressure on emergency rooms and first responders.
While municipal leaders say these initiatives have been positive steps, they maintain that funding remains well below what is required. The Association of Municipalities of Ontario estimates that ending chronic homelessness in the province would require an investment of $11 billion over 10 years, focused on prevention, supportive housing and sustainable exits from homelessness.
Ontario’s Big City Mayors represents 29 municipalities with populations of more than 100,000, advocating for policy solutions on behalf of nearly 70 per cent of Ontario’s residents. Chatham-Kent participates as part of a broader municipal coalition that says homelessness, mental health and addictions are challenges affecting communities of every size, not only large urban centres.
