Thunder Bay approves $1M fund for poverty, homelessness projects in the city

City councillorsin Thunder Bayhave voted to establish a $1-million reserve fund for tackling homelessness and poverty in the northwestern Ontario city.

The money can be used for capital projects to support those issues and adds to a pot of money for community projects that already exists in the city budget, explained Mark Bentz, an at-large councillor who brought forward the move.

"We all see poverty and homelessness happening, and we all think it shouldn't exist in a country as prosperous as Canada," Bentz said. "We've got to try something different, we've got to bring the [federal government] and the province together in a greater way and show a bit of leadership here.

"The things we see in our city are hurtful to see."

The purpose of the fund is toleverage dollars from the provincial and federal governments, which he believes will increase the likelihood of local funding proposals being approved, Bentz said.

The 2021 Point in Time Count found 221 people experiencing homelessness in Thunder Bay during a 24-hour period between Oct. 2 -3. Of those people surveyed, 58 per cent reported they were chronically homeless for more than six months in the past year.

A pre-pandemic count in 2018 had identified 474 people living in the city without housing.

One place the money could go into is building transitional housing in the city for people experiencing homelessness, Bentz said.

"Transitional housing basically brings people in, and helps them get back on track, gives them the support they need," Bentz said. "That's probably one of the larger areas that I hope to see developed."

"This is to help build social infrastructure rather than physical infrastructure," he said.

Across northern Ontario, homelessness has been acknowledged as being at crisis levels.

Earlier this spring, municipal leaders in the region spoke about the issue at regional meetings. Cochrane, Nipissing, Kenora and Thunder Bay all have a higher homelessness rate than Toronto and at least double that of Ottawa.

Last fall, Thunder Bay city council and a group of social service organizations began working on new protocols for supporting people experiencing homelessness after someone drove a truck through an encampment at the County Fair Plaza where people had been staying.