The Mayor of Owen Sound says homelessness was among the many topics covered at the annual Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference.
The four-day event in Ottawa wrapped up Wednesday and Owen Sound Mayor Ian Boddy says while the city didn’t have any delegations with ministers this year, there was ample opportunity to connect with other municipal leaders to discuss shared issues they’re facing.
“Certainly what we had at the homelessness conference session, a lot of ideas, most of which are being done by Grey County already,” Boddy says. “I think we hope to see some positive outcomes based on that.”
The $3-million purchase of the Diamond Motel in Owen Sound earlier this year to turn it into emergency housing is among the recent Grey County initiatives to enhance homelessness supports. The county also renovated a 14th Street West property in Owen Sound to use for supportive housing, which provides vulnerable individuals a stable place to live.
Last year, Grey County identified there are at least 100 people dealing with “chronic homelessness” in the area — which means they are homeless for more than six months of the year.
Boddy mentioned Minister of Health Sylvia Jones also announced the province is investing more than $378-million to support new treatment and social support centres in Ontario for people with mental health and addictions challenges.
“And we’ve got that new addictions and mental health treatment centre (in Owen Sound),” Boddy explains. “They’re now starting to roll out 20 more of those. So we’re in the lead, ahead of many other municipalities.”
In addition to Boddy, Owen Sound councillors Travis Dodd, Suneet Kukreja and Melanie Middlebro’ attended the 2024 AMO Conference. The city’s director of public works and engineering was there as well.
A release from the city says it had requested a delegation to meet with the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, or Minister of Finance on the need for the province and municipalities to work together towards the long-term sustainability of municipal finances. But neither ministry was able to meet with city officials.
