London City Council has approved new funding to support the community’s emergency response to the current homelessness crisis.
Council approved the money as part of the Health and Homelessness Whole of Community Response, in an effort to establish immediate short-term services for those experiencing homelessness.
"Everybody agrees we are in a crisis and everybody agrees the status quo is not an option. Marginalized Londoners, at minimum, deserve basic human rights including food, water, and sanitation," said Mayor Josh Morgan.
He added that the city is continuing to work towards permanent services, but immediate support is needed.
Temporary service locations will provide safe and clean drinking water, hygiene facilities, garbage collection, and social supports on-site 90 minutes a day, seven-days-a-week.
Kevin Dickins, the City’s Deputy City Manager of Social Health and Development, called the temporary services a necessary step as London works towards building permanent hub sites and supportive housing units.
"The community is in parallel working on a strategy for hubs, which do not currently exist in London, and which will be purpose-designed physical spaces that can provide a range of services under one roof," Dickins said.
A total $325,000 was approved to be spent on increased services to encampments, with $100,000 specifically going to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA).
The Health and Homelessness Whole of Community Response was created through a partnership of more than 70 local organizations representing health and social services, institutional health care, business and economic development, land and housing development, and staff from various levels of government.
