Yesterday, the Government of Ontario tabled Bill 242, the Safer Municipalities Act.  

The proposed legislation outlines a clear shift toward an enforcement-based responses to homelessness in Ontario, focusing on increased trespassing enforcement, along with expanded police authority and increased fines and incarceration for public drug use. 

Ontario cannot enforce its way out of homelessness, and this response will lead to more people dying from overdoses in alleyways, and homelessness will spread further into all corners of communities.  

The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness strongly opposes the proposed legislation and enforcement-led approaches to encampments and homelessness – approaches we know to be ineffective, costly and cruel. The only way to solve homelessness is with homes. 

The $75-million investment announced today in housing, shelter, and the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit are a recognition that we need to invest in housing to solve the homelessness crisis.  

Ontarians need their government to rapidly and significantly scale up investments in affordable housing and housing supports to ensure everyone has a place to call home.