Our community needs some creative solutions for our current housing and homelessness crisis. Right now, we are in a complex situation. Housing is becoming increasingly unaffordable for those who are working-class citizens, and those on the margins of society who simply cannot afford housing. With a vacancy rate of just 1.0%, both groups are competing for a limited housing supply.

However, there is a glimmer of hope with some creative ideas coming forward. We have seen short-term success in our local housing initiatives with modular housing and plans are in motion to increase our housing supply.

One of these projects is from the Brock Mission. Just last month at a local news conference they announced plans to build a permanent 50-unit transitional housing project, which was attended by our own VP of Operations and Government Relations, Joel Wiebe. This 50-unit building will be a transitional housing project, operating in a similar fashion to the organization’s current shelters on Murray Street and Cameron House on Chemong Road. Although the location for the project has not yet been finalized, The Brock Mission is asking for a one-time support payment of $250,000 from the City of Peterborough to cover the costs of professional services and building permit process.

In the meantime, we have seen short-term success with our temporary modular housing project. According to a report from the City of Peterborough, between November 27, 2023, to June 30th, 2024. There was a 96% decrease in calls from the previous site of the encampment which was on the current site of modular housing. Back when there was an encampment on Wolfe Street, police were called 95 times between November 27, 2022, and June 30, 2023. Between Nov. 28, 2023, to June 30th, 2024, police were only called 4 times.

The current statistics paint an optimistic picture. So far, one person has moved into more permanent housing, and another has secured a home. Four people living in the cabins are employed. Additionally,17 people were evicted from the site. For context, four of these evictions happened in the last 3.5 months and 13 happened in the first 5 months of the program. This may paint a negative picture for modular housing, but 33 people have been housed for 6+ months indicating more than half have adjusted to the site.

While the city is considering expanding modular housing, Peterborough’s low vacancy rate is still a big worry. Young families are left with limited housing availability in a time where Peterborough is experiencing a growing population. According to a report from Mike Moffat from the PLACE Centre, Peterborough’s population has significantly increased from upwards of about 2,500 people in just one year. We are seeing more families moving into Peterborough because they are being priced out of the GTA, but this only adds to the pressure on the housing market. This pressure is being felt, where 10 individuals in the modular housing project are waiting for housing to become available.  

In light of a demand for housing, Habitat for Humanity, recently got approval for a five-story, 41-unit condo on 78 and 82 Lansdowne St W. This will offer low-income families the chance to buy a home with a low-interest, geared-to-income mortgage. It is refreshing to see creative local solutions from Habit for Humanity to address our housing needs.
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Together, The Brock Mission and Habitat for Humanity projects have a lot of potential to help increase affordable accessible housing in our community. We are finally laying the groundwork to support not only those experiencing homelessness but also the young families who want to make Peterborough their home. Ultimately, we’re going to need more involvement from our Provincial government to fund and support more projects like this.  

A new campaign called “Solve the Crisis,” led by a group of Ontario Big City Mayors (OBCM) was presented at a conference in Ottawa, hosted by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO).

The conference included members from several caucuses and brought together some big names such as the minister of housing, mental health and addictions, and the minister of health. Those in attendance were Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus (EOWC), Western Ontario Wardens’ Caucus (WOWC), and Eastern Ontario Mayors’ Caucus (EOMC). The three caucuses announced their collective support for the “Solve the Crisis” campaign.

On a local note, Mayor Jeff Leal accepted a municipal innovation award on behalf of the city of Peterborough from the AMO. The award recognizes the city of Peterborough's innovative modular housing community project which started in 2023. The project helped to end a tent encampment of people experiencing homelessness on Wolfe Street. According to a CBC report, the modular housing project has successfully housed 47 people out of 50 units.

A report by AMO in 2023, found there were at least 1400 homeless encampments in Ontario communities. The encampments were situated in communities of any size, urban, small town rural, and northern Ontario. This eye-opening statistic set in motion the call for urgency in this crisis.

The leading organization is the OBCM which includes mayors of 29 cities with a population of 100,000 or more that makes up about 70% of Ontario’s population. The OBCM thus advocates for issues and policies for Ontario’s largest cities.
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At the conference the OBCM highlighted their demands for urgent action on homelessness and the opioid crisis, known as “Solve the Crisis.” The conference addressed the reality of an issue that continues to grow where municipalities do not have the sufficient resources and support to combat homelessness.

The campaign calls on specific demands from the provincial government and federal government. This involves creating a ministry responsible for overseeing housing needs and mental health supports, as well as a taskforce to develop an Ontario Action Plan. In addition, they’re asking for more funding, tools and resources to address homelessness.

During the conference, Health Minister the Hon. Sylvia Jones’ announced that the province would be investing $378 million into 19 new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) hubs which will add up to 375 supportive housing units. On top of this, the province has implemented a ban on consumption sites within 200 metres of a school or childcare centre. Several mayors from OBCM voiced their gratitude for further investment from the province. Mayor Patrick Brown of Brampton stating, “Grateful for the Ford government’s focus on treatment for addictions and not band-aid solutions. I share their concern about the proliferation of safe injection sites in area close to families and children. This needs to stop".

Looking ahead, the OBCM, and our own mayor, remain steadfast on tackling this crisis and collaborating with all levels of government. In an interview with the Peterborough examiner, Leal mentioned he has had productive conversations with the minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Micheal Tibollo’s to help address our local needs. Leal said, “we want to continue to impress upon the need to have additional funding, both from a treatment perspective and (for) supportive housing”.

The city of Peterborough has already received both federal and provincial funding for housing, drug supervision and treatment programs. These include the current supervised consumption site, affordable housing and a future residential treatment centre.

Locally, we met with Fourcast to get a better understanding of Peterborough’s Consumption and Treatment Services Site (CTS). Fourcast is the lead agency operating the CTS site here in Peterborough. The CTS which has been active since June 2022, has seen a large success in preventing overdoses according to their 2022-2023 report. While a CTS is controversial in recent news and from communities, Fourcast involves community perspectives from community and business leaders in their operations with a community committee. Therefore, any community concerns will be reviewed in the committee. If you would like to see the past year's report on the CTS, please click the following link.

While the AMO acknowledges there have been some positive steps towards action, more is needed to combat this growing problem. With the success from modular housing and our own supervised consumption site, it will be interesting to see which municipalities will have the HART hubs. Thanks to the OBCM and pressure from Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade across Canada, the homelessness crisis in Ontario is getting the attention it needs.