Ontario NDP pledges to end homeless encampments, with unspecified funding

By Canadian Press on February 5, 2025.

TORONTO — Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles is promising to end homeless encampments, calling them Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford’s “greatest failure.”

Stiles listed several steps she would take to accomplish that goal but would not say how much they would cost, saying only “that will all come” later.

The Association of Municipalities of Ontario has estimated that more than 80,000 people in the province were homeless last year and that $11 billion over 10 years would be required to end chronic homelessness.

Shortly before Ford called the snap election for Feb. 27, his government announced it was giving municipalities up to $75.5 million to end encampments by creating more emergency shelter spaces and affordable housing units.

Stiles says people are simply moving from one encampment to another, and the last-minute pot of money will not solve the problem.

She says an NDP government would create 60,000 new supportive housing units, have the province pay for shelter costs instead of municipalities, and double social assistance rates.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 5, 2025.

The Canadian Press