Essex County council wants the provincial government to step up and take more financial responsibility regarding the Intensive Supportive Housing Program.
County council heard from delegations, administration, and councillors for over an hour and at one point halted the regular meeting to seek legal advice behind closed doors last Wednesday night.
According to director of legislature and legal services David Sundin, the county has an arrangement with Windsor which transfers provincial funding to the county to support a housing program.
That amount, of $2.5 million has to be topped up with an additional $448,000 which is given to an unidentified service provider for services such as housing, food services and supervised care to vulnerable individuals in the county.
“Going forward, if the county wants to continue, it will have to consider funding a portion from the municipal tax base,” explained Sundin.
The current county program is set to expire March 31. Sundin presented two options – begin the search for a new service provider or eliminate the program.
While no county council members want to see the Intensive Supportive Housing Program discontinued, many agreed more funding from the province is needed.
“Who wins and who loses when we have a stand-off with the province?” asked Warden Hilda McDonald. “It sure won’t be those people.”
A three-part motion brought forward by Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy calls for administration to draft a Right for Proposal to seek a new service provider for the program. A short-term deal will be in place with the current provider.
Also, and a point that raised a lot of comments, was that pressure has to be put on the provincial government.
“No one is going to be able to provide the services that these incredibly vulnerable people need to have any quality of life for what the province is offering to pay,” said Amherstburg Deputy Mayor Chris Gibb.
Amherstburg Mayor Michael Prue noted that the province has not increased taxes but instead pushed more responsibilities onto municipalities.
“We live in very troubled times,” he said.
Tecumseh Mayor Gary MacNamara said that the Association of Municipalities of Ontario continues to advocate for more funding for housing. He said health care, which is tied directly into housing, is a provincial responsibility.
“We are going to have to spend money on this and yes it should come from the province but it doesn’t and there is nobody else who is going to backstop these people,” said Gibb.
County council was adamant in not only getting more provincial funding, but actually inviting MPPs to a meeting.
“We’ve gone to the well a number of times to no avail. I think it’s unrealistic to expect the amount of funding we are getting from the city through the province is going to change,” said Essex County CAO Sandra Zwiers.
While the location of the program or provider was never mentioned, Prue claimed “the reason this is here is because there were problems with the people who were delivering the services.”
County council heard delegations in support the program from Kevin Matte, director of outpatient mental health services at Hotel Dieu-Grace Hospital, acting executive director of Family Services Windsor-Essex Ciara Holmes and Carolyn Warkentin, executive director of South Essex Community Council.
County wants cash for supportive housing
By Fred Groves
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