The President of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario says taxpayers will either pay now, or pay later when it comes to solving homelessness issues.
Robin Jones spoke about the new report which showed that homelessness is getting worse across the province.
Throughout 2025, the report states that 85,000 people were without a home, and there were nearly 2,000 encampments across Ontario.
Jones says that while it's a staggering number, but to end chronic homelessness over 10 years that $11-billion would be needed from all levels of government to address the issue.
She says the homeless numbers in rural Ontario and northern Ontario are staggering.
"The number of homeless in rural communities is up 30 per cent, and in northern Ontario the homelessness grew by more than 37 per cent just last year, we did this report January 2025, and so that is 10 per cent of all homelessness is in the north, and they're only five per cent of our population."
Jones says they aren't pointing fingers as it's going to be a team effort to help solve the issue.
"It is more than just Ministry of Housing, it is more than just the province, it's more than the federal government, we know that it's really an all government approach because to deal with a crisis, to deal with setting up a warming centre, or a shelter, it's still more expensive in the long run than finding somebody proper accommodations."
She says it's a pay now or pay later mindset.
"When you think of how many homeless people end up in jail, and the cost of supporting somebody in a provincial jail, or how many people end up in a hospital... when we start looking at the money that we're spending, we know that to end chronic homelessness over 10 years we are looking at $11-billion."
The report says homelessness will continue to get worse under steady economic conditions until 2035 with 177,000 people projected to be without a home if nothing changes.
The report states that homelessness grew in the last year alone by about eight per cent, or some 6,000 people.
-with files from AM800's The Shift with Patty Handysides