Ford Conservatives Ignore their Responsibility to resolve Ontario's Growing Homelessness Crisis

Chris Glover, Member of Provincial Parliament for Spadina-Fort York, calls on the Ford Government to address the growing homelessness crisis in downtown Toronto and urban areas across Ontario. The City of Toronto put forward a plan to build 3,000 affordable supportive housing units and 350,000 over the next ten years. The Federal Government offered $1 billion in funding to build affordable housing but it is unclear how much of this will flow to the City of Toronto. Meanwhile, the Provincial Government has offered nothing. In fact, since being elected, Ontario's Provincial Government has cut $161 million from rent supplements and shelter funding, frozen funding for the Homelessness Prevention Program, cut the Ending Homelessness Program by 25%, eliminated the Housing and Homelessness Program and Basic Income Pilot completely, and announced a $335 million per year funding cut to mental health care and services. The list goes on. MPP Glover came together with residents, business owners, homelessness advocates, and people experiencing homelessness calling on the Ford Government to reverse their cuts, provide the City of Toronto the funding it needs, and declare a State of Emergency on homelessness. This is a humanitarian crisis. People should not have to resort to living in tents during a pandemic. Residents and businesses should feel comfortable and have access to their parks and outdoor space. Instead of committing any action to address the issue, the Minister responsible deflected and chose to argue. In some cases he says funds for homelessness programs are the same as previous years, without taking COVID19 or inflation into account, and in other cases he says funds are up, without providing any specifics. There are hundreds of people living in tents in Toronto. Winter is coming and the most vulnerable people are being ignored. We need the Province to take responsibility and take concrete action, not deflect and argue about semantics. Helpful Links: Parliamentary Budget Officer report (see page 8 for Ontario's homelessness cut): https://www.pbo-dpb.gc.ca/web/default... https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toront... https://www.680news.com/2020/10/06/ho...    • CBC News Toronto - Oct 5 2020 - Toronto Re...   https://www.toronto.ca/news/city-of-t... https://www.blogto.com/city/2020/09/t... https://www.blogto.com/city/2020/09/t...