Ontario cities watching as London rolls out first-of-its-kind homeless response

Municipal leaders dedicated the final day of the Association of Ontario Municipalities (AMO) conference to discuss collaborative solutions to homelessness as a housing crisis continues across the province. 

AMO looked to its host London, along with Kingston — two cities that are taking the lead in tackling the situation, while also providing support to the most vulnerable.

London's soon to be implemented whole of community system response has piqued the interest of other politicians who asked questions about how to enact a similar system in their jurisdictions, according to Mayor Josh Morgan who detailed the plan to delegates on Wednesday.

"I see municipalities united on this issue," Morgan told reporters. "All through this conference, people are looking at things that London is doing and saying 'How do we bring those best practices here'? There's a commitment to supply services to communities where they're at."

Morgan said leaders were especially impressed by the level of collaboration involving agencies from various sectors in London, including frontline outreach workers, healthcare, policing, businesses, and people with lived experiences. 

The system response brought together more than 200 people representing nearly 70 local organizations to help the growing numbers of people facing homelessness, addiction and mental health challenges, with the ultimate goal of transitioning them into stable housing.

Its pillars include a series of neighbourhood service hubs intended to provide life-saving supports and pathways to housing, along with service depots located near encampments that would offer basic necessities such as food, water, and hygiene materials. 

People with lived experiences need to lead the process: advocate

Joining Morgan to speak about London's response to homelessness was Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson, who said the hubs system has already made a significant impact in his community, emphasizing the importance of collaboration among different groups. 

"There's no manual but the starting point is getting everybody together under the same roof," Paterson said.

Alex Nelson of the national group Canadian Lived Experience Leadership Network addressed the conference, highlighting why it's necessary to put people with lived experiences to guide responses made to address homelessness. 

"So often policies get made in rooms where there are people who may not have experienced the things they're talking about firsthand, and that ends up having a really significant and serious impact on people when it doesn't match their deep needs," Nelson said. 

"There's a lot of work that needs to happen before London ends homelessness and I'm hoping that the solutions on the way forward are directed by people with lived experience so we can make sure we build something that actually works for the people who are most impacted."

The mayors are confident in their responses, which were informed by many different experts and will continuously track data on its success to report back to the province. 

"This is a dialogue and a partnership so they don't just write us a cheque and walk away," Morgan said. "There's ongoing dialogue and data measuring, looking for impacts that everyone wants to see on this really challenging issue." 

Morgan admits the plan's execution won't come without challenges, but he said it's important to have ongoing engagement with the public and provincial and federal governments on how improvements can be made along the way.

"We're transforming an entire system and that means we're not going to get everything perfect. If we get something wrong we want to be able to correct it quickly, with public input and actually get us to a place where everyone is better off in this community," he said.