Back in May, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne got a close look at housing development at the Timmins Native Friendship Centre.

Thursday, the province—along with the federal government—sent up the cheque book.

Over $3 million dollars is coming to help the project, which will have 18 units for local Indigenous residents.

Friendship Centre President Gary Martin says they’ve already got 60 people on the wait list for the development as of Thursday morning.

“That just goes to show this (announcement) is just going to be one little dip in that bucket,” he said, “But through relationships with different provincial and federal ministries, I think in the years to come, we can address the homelessness around youth and also elders because we want to bring those two groups together.”

“In our culture,” Martin continues, “It’s the elders that are supposed to be teaching those young kids. And when you look at historical events like residential schools, that’s the system that they broke down so we want to re-implement that support for those young kids so they can get back on track.”

He says with 84.5% of First Nations people living off-reserve, it’s especially important to support them in places like Timmins.

“I think a lot of stuff in the North is lacking so I think once you get that taste of an urban setting and all the services that are available like the Friendship Centre—(we) have programs for the babies that aren’t even born yet right to the elders—it’s like a one-stop-shop,” he said.

“And if the Friendship Centre can provide it, then they make referrals out to the community like the Misiway Health Centre.”

An additional $10.3 million dollars is being put into nine other developments across Northeastern Ontario. It’s said these other developments will provide another 86 units for families.

Three of those are in Timmins and another is in Cochrane:

  • Six units of affordable housing for survivors of domestic violence in Schumacher, which received $392,400
  • Six units of affordable housing at 11 Spruce Street South in Timmins, which received $300,000
  • Three units of affordable housing at 344 Lang Street in Timmins, which received $300,000
  • Nine units of affordable housing for Indigenous residents at 225 Grenier Road in Cochrane, which received $446,323

A major chunk of at $10.3 million is in Sault Ste. Marie and Lively, near Sudbury.

Ontario Housing Minister Chris Ballard was among those on-hand to deliver remarks. He says when people have homes, they’re healthier and more equipped to go and seek employment and contribute to communities.

“We’ve made a committment in Ontario to end chronic homelessness by 2025,” he said, “We’re spending a considerable amount of money on that. We have homelessness funding that we’ve increased in every jurisdiction in Ontario over the previous year to deal with chronic homelessness and we’ll continue to focus on that.”

Ballard goes on to say it’s a “system-wide issue” and is more than just building emergency shelters for those who otherwise can’t afford to do so.

“It’s about poverty-reduction, it’s about income, it’s about mental health,” he said, “It’s about making sure that people have a place where they can live with all the supports they need so that they’re not back out on the streets in a month or a week or whatever.”

Ballard says First Nations peoples is “grossly over-represented” in the homeless community across the province.

He says this funding will make at least a small dent in rectifying that.

To reach their 2025 goal might be daunting for some, but the Housing Minister adds it doesn’t feel that way with a plan in place.

“If we didn’t know what to do, it would be daunting,” Ballard says, “But we have our updated long-term strategy, we’re working with experts and communities across Ontario that are doing (the job already). So it’s a matter of how do we best support them to get it done so our Home For Good Program will demonstrate in a number of communities around Ontario that we know what to do.”

“We know how to end chronic homelessness. We need the political will and we need the dollars invested and I believe we got that now.”

Filed under: Local News