Port Hope Deputy Mayor Claire Holloway-Wadhwani says municipalities are facing a growing issue of encampments forming and residents need only look at how quickly an encampment in nearby Cobourg materialized.
Halloway-Wadhwani brought attention at Tuesday’s Port Hope committee-of-the-whole meeting to a report from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario regarding the growing issue of homeless encampments. The report states that municipal governments are on the frontlines of the crisis, but without the financial resources or tools to support residents and communities.
Mayor Olena Hankivsky said Northumberland County Council, for which she is deputy warden, directed county staff in June to create a report on a homelessness response plan to the July 31 social services committee meeting that would include an encampment plan.
She said a homelessness plan presented to county council earlier this year did not have any mention of encampments. The committee has yet to receive the new report, but was told to expect it in mid-August.
