Expanding basic needs supports for homeless Londoners on hold until federal funding approved

City council has delayed the expansion of outreach service that provides basic needs to Londoners experiencing homelessness because the timeline to receive new federal funding for the program remains unknown.

Entering the hottest months of the summer, the executive director of Ark Aid Street Mission is worried about the consequences of having to wait for the funding.

“In the summer, in the coldest parts of the winter, these are the life threatening periods of time,” Sarah Campbell explained. “If those dollars don't flow now, and I mean now, we will have loss of life. We can't afford to go all summer.”

On Tuesday, city council put its plan to make the provision of basic needs a year-round service on hold until it receives an update about funding from a new $250 million federal program.

The federal program was announced on April 12, but according to city staff, municipalities don’t know when they will receive a share of the money.

In the meantime, London’s service depots must provide basic needs like food/water, hygiene stations, harm reduction, and healthcare at 2023 levels.

“There are some partners who aren't as fully at the table as they need to be,” Deputy Mayor Shawn Lewis told colleagues during this week’s council meeting. ”I would say that it's not just the province. I would say that it's the federal government too, to some degree. I appreciate some of the funding that has started to flow, but it's not fast enough.”

London North Centre MP Peter Fragiskatos told CTV News that the April announcement was made prior to the approval of the Federal Budget.

Fragiskatos explained, “Funding has to be approved in Parliament, and that only happened a few weeks ago. So I'm expecting that in the coming weeks. We'll understand now that funding has been approved. More details about the encampment policy, how we will be helping exactly cities counter that challenge.”

“This is not about finger pointing,” he added. “The provincial government needs to be there. The municipal government needs to be there. And we need to be there, too. And we will be.”

Campbell emphasizes that providing frontline supports on a year-round basis would reduce operating expenses by about 25 per cent because the costly process of ramping-up and winding-down services would be avoided.

She stresses the urgency to expedite the funding approvals, “They've got to flow dollars now. Even if they’ve got to go through their processes, they need to make the commitment now and get those dollars flowing.”

“Ensuring that cities have that funding available, certainly for winter, is something I understand very well and something I am confident we can do,” Fragiskatos said.