Sudbury city council approves plan for several projects to tackle homelessness

The City of Greater Sudbury plans to move ahead with several projects to help the city's homeless population, including working on setting up a nine bed women's shelter for the winter. 

At a meeting Tuesday night, city staff presented a report to staff outlining a number of actions the city could take, using federal and provincial funding streams. 

Proposed projects include spending $200,000 annually on a "master lease" with a private landlord to provide up to 20 housing units, which would be assigned through an existing program like the Homelessness Network. There is also a plan to spend $80,000 to renovate 10 existing two-bedroom social housing units into one-bedroom apartments to meet current demand. 

The report says investing an extra $380,000 in various housing solutions could assist up to 80 people with permanent housing.

While some councillors expressed concerns that the city should be doing more, the plan was ultimately supported unanimously.

"It certainly does not exclude other future options or solutions as they're identified and as they may come forward," said Coun. Fern Cormier, who put forward the motion in support of the plan.

"This has been an ongoing file, an ongoing project." 

Staffing challenges

Councillors heard from staff that a major challenge right now is a shortage of staff in the homelessness sector. Tyler Campbell, the city's director of social services, said many service providers have reported having a hard time recruiting and retaining qualified employees. 

The new women's shelter, for example, has an organization willing to run it, but still needs to recruit workers. 

The staffing shortage prompted Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann to ask what she admitted was likely a "not very popular" question. 

She asked about the merits of putting a "cap" on services,and "establishing a number of spaces and services we can provide, and working within that." 

She expressed concerns about the number of people moving to Sudbury from other municipalities and seeking services, a sentiment that was later echoed by Coun. Mark Signoretti. 

"There's a threshold that the municipality of Greater Sudbury can handle, and I think we're at that point at the present time," Signoretti said. 

Homelessness consultant Iain De Jong, who was present during the meeting, said he's not aware of any other municipalities that have implemented a cap, nor any way to do it logistically. He noted that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms allows for freedom of mobility. 

"What if other municipalities did the same and sent people who are from Sudbury who are homeless ... and said they weren't going to serve them anymore," De Jong said. 

Coun. Michael Vagnini said he felt city council was "going down a dangerous path when we start talking about putting caps in place." 

"It sounds like some crazy movie."