Ford’s announcement falls billions short of what municipalities need to protect vulnerable: NDP

QUEEN’S PARK — Rima Berns-McGown, Ontario NDP Poverty and Homelessness critic, released the following statement on the Ford government’s announcement today:

“For months, municipal councils have struggled to fill the gap left by Doug Ford in our social safety net – and are billions of dollars short of what is needed. The province’s announcement today falls woefully short of the funding required and the leadership needed to co-ordinate a response to this pandemic and ensure that our most vulnerable citizens have safe and secure housing in which to self-isolate.

I have called on the government to declare homelessness the public health crisis that it is: to provide people experiencing homelessness with hotels or other spaces in which to self-isolate, and to follow up with funding for adequate transitional, supportive, and permanent housing.

Shelters are not an answer to homelessness in the middle of a pandemic.”