An encampment in Freedom Park in Thunder Bay, Ont., on Feb. 18.David Jackson/The Globe and Mail
Homelessness in rural and Northern Ontario is growing faster than any other parts of the province, however the cities and communities there have fewer resources to address the crisis, according to a new report.
There were about 12,800 homeless people in rural and northern areas, which includes communities such as Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay, compared with an estimated 85,000 in the province overall in 2025, according to the report released Tuesday by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.
That’s up eight per cent from 2024 and 50 per cent since 2021. The non-profit, which represents 444 communities, found homelessness is particularly acute in northern and rural regions and among Indigenous people.
At least 13 per cent of homeless Ontarians are Indigenous, despite accounting for only about 3 per cent of the province’s population, the report stated.
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Homelessness has shifted and is no longer an issue that mainly affects larger urban settings, AMO executive director Lindsay Jones said in an interview.
“It really is, I think, an indictment of failing social systems, particularly in the North. Incomes are just not growing at the same level as expenses, and the level of investment in social supports is not keeping pace with that gap,” she said.
Homelessness in the North now accounts for 10 per cent of the total number in the province, despite representing only 5 per cent of the population, the report found.
The data is based on information from 47 municipal service managers across the province, who deal with emergency shelters, community housing waitlists, program funding and expenditures.
The report found people are remaining homeless for longer periods of time, with more than half “chronically homeless,” meaning they have been without a home for at least six months, or have cycled in and out of homelessness repeatedly.
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Encampments have also continued to grow. There were nearly 2,000 across the province last year, compared with about 1,400 in 2023, according to the report. Most are small, typically involving fewer than 10 people per site.
Ms. Jones said the toxic drug crisis is also contributing to the problem. Smaller communities are not able to keep pace with what is required to address homelessness and she called on the province to increase funding for social housing and other services.
Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said homelessness is on the rise in the city of about 78,000 people and it’s not uncommon to see unhoused people suffering mental health crises.
A lack of access to mental health services is driving more people to drug use and the drugs are much more dangerous than a generation ago, he said.
The solution requires a wholistic approach, with municipalities putting more money into supportive housing and shelter spaces, Mr. Shoemaker said.
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Timmins Mayor Michelle Boileau said her city of almost 45,000 has about 60 emergency shelter beds, which have been over-capacity for six months. She added that about 75 per cent of people experiencing homelessness require 24-7 support.
“It’s obvious that the emergency shelter isn’t actually the resource that many people need, but they just don’t have access to those resources,” she said.
According to the report, public housing and homelessness funding for Ontario from federal, provincial and municipal governments totalled $4-billion last year, but it also said municipalities are increasingly absorbing the cost of managing higher and more persistent levels of homelessness through local services.
The report said even under a steady economic scenario, homelessness in Ontario would double over the next 10 years and could grow to almost 300,000 people in an economic downturn.
The AMO reiterated their call from last year for an immediate injection of $2-billion over three years to increase social services and supportive housing, as well as $11-billion over 10 years to create affordable housing units.
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But the report noted that even with increased investment, the number of people experiencing homelessness continues to rise.
“Increased funding alone cannot change outcomes in a system facing continued inflow into homelessness, long durations without housing, and responses spread across multiple sectors,” the report said. Instead, improved outcomes will depend on how policy, funding and delivery are aligned.
The report was commissioned by the AMO and two other non-profits – the Ontario Municipal Social Services Association and the Northern Ontario Service Deliverers Association. It was written by Calgary-based HelpSeeker Technologies, a social enterprise company.
Asked Tuesday about the report, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the province has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on helping those experiencing homelessness. “Best way to help to help a homeless person is getting them trained and getting them a good paying job,” he said.
Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Rob Flack said the province had increased the budget to address homelessness in recent years. The government is spending $75-million this year to create more than 2,000 housing units and shelter spaces, as well as $1.7-billion to improve access to supportive housing, his office said.
In addition, Ontario promised in the 2025 budget to spend nearly $550-million to create 28 new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment Hubs, after announcing last year it would no longer fund supervised drug consumption sites.
Mr. Flack did not rule out offering more money to help.
“We’ve always been accommodating, as best we can, and we’re going to take a look at every option,” Mr. Flack told The Globe and Mail at Queen’s Park.
With reports from Willow Fiddler and Jeff Gray