Windsor city council is calling on the province to create a Ministry of Homelessness to provide more oversight and accountability in battling homelessness and addiction issues in Ontario.
Ward 6 councillor Jo-Anne Gignac asked for the call as part of a motion from councillor Kieran McKenzie that was backed by council to endorse a series of recommendations from an Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) report on homelessness and addiction.
The report released in November 2024 details how municipalities lack the resources needed to address rising homelessness, encampments, and the opioid crisis without increased provincial support.
AMO is calling on the upper levels of government to take significant, long-term action on affordable housing, mental health, addiction services, and income supports to address homelessness.
Gignac says some of the initiatives need targets and coordinated oversight.
"Let's get somebody with the oversight capacity to be able to say this is where we're going to direct our money because they have provided the data; they have provided the plan that we think is going to make a real impact on the problem we're dealing with," she says.
A December 2024 report from the Auditor General of Ontario has also determined that poor data tracking has created difficulties with planning, improving, and monitoring addiction services and that no one organization leads, oversees, or coordinates the work of the different aspects of the opioid crisis, creating a lack of clear accountability and leadership structure.
Gignac feels that oversight is badly needed.
"Come on, province! We're spending literally billions of dollars on an issue that is of concern for almost every municipality in Ontario. It's time. It's time to establish that ministry so that there is that oversight, both oversight and clear direction," she says.
Gignac says the problem has grown to such an extent that it's like trying to unravel a plate of spaghetti.
"You need to have housing and shelter that have these wrap-around services so that people can get the help they require right away," she says. "It needs to be properly funded because we can't keep funding responses to these issues on municipal tax dollars; it's impossible."
Mayor Drew Dilkens and councillors Mark McKenzie and Ed Sleiman voted against endorsing the AMO position, citing concerns over the organization's endorsement of supervised consumption sites.
Windsor's SafePoint site opened in April 2023 but needed provincial approval for funding the space to continue operations but that was not approved and it closed on January 1, 2024.
Instead, the province announced plans to invest in Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment Hubs that are designed to provide people with comprehensive treatment and preventative services, including primary care, mental health services, addiction care and support, social services and employment support, shelter and transition beds, supportive housing, and other supplies and services, including naloxone, onsite showers, and food.
Windsor received approval for a HART Hub at the end of January.