Thank you Chair and Members of the Committee,
My name is Meg McCallum and I’m the Interim Executive Director of the Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa. The Alliance represents over 70 agencies and partners in the housing and homelessness sector in Ottawa, working together to end homelessness.
I’m also the co-chair of the new Housing and Homelessness Leadership Table, and I’m looking forward to connecting with you all with that hat on as we get started on our work in the coming months.
I want to start by saying that the crisis of homelessness we are experiencing is not inevitable and it is solvable. Across the country and around the world communities are reducing homelessness and even ending it altogether. The secret lies in targeting resources toward permanent solutions, and committing to the change process required to go from managing the crisis through emergency responses to solving the crisis of homelessness. We know that affordable non-profit housing - permanently and deeply affordable housing - is at the core of the solution, along with the supports to keep people stably housed.
I’m here today to comment on the Housing Services Long Range Financial Plan 2025 - 2030 Update, but I recognize that this report and the policies and funding strategies it contains, are directly connected to the 2025 budget to be tabled later this month and to upcoming strategic reports on a municipal acquisitions fund and strategy and a renovictions response. And further to the upcoming update to the City’s 10-year plan on housing and homelessness, and back to the City’s Term of Council priority to create a City that has affordable housing and is more liveable for all. I recognize the connection between the strategic priority and the financial plan and know that you all do too. The challenge is ensuring that the strategies, actions and funding achieve the results we need.
I’d like to start by celebrating the elements I see as hopeful and helpful in the Long Range Financial Plan update, and adding in comments and requests for improvement.
First, providing stable predictable funding is key to encouraging steady growth.
It sets a message that the City is a steady partner, and we appreciate the intentionality around the commitment to ongoing funding.
We appreciated the investment of $30 million in this year’s budget through the top up from reserves, and understand that the City is choosing to prioritize other pressures this year, however dropping back to the original baseline of stepping up by $1million annually to $15 million by 2030 does not begin to meet the growing need. We experienced the highest shelter use ever in 2023 and almost one quarter of Ottawa’s households face the choice between food and shelter. If funding doesn’t keep up with need, we fall further behind. (And if I understood correctly that the Housing Reserve fund is in a deficit now, and needs to be replenished by the upcoming year’s capital contributions, this is a backward slide).
Second, focusing on permanent affordable housing and the supports tenants need, even in the face of external factors beyond our control, shows a commitment to solutions. We appreciate the City’s support in completing projects that faced significant construction cost challenges over the last few years and are excited about some of the affordable and supportive housing projects coming through the pipeline. However, we need to shift from funding transitional housing and emergency shelters, because the bottleneck is the lack of permanent affordable housing.
Third, the commitment to strong ongoing advocacy from the City of Ottawa to other orders of government is invaluable. Our member agencies and all of our sector associations advocate at every chance we can, but our voices are stronger when we work together. We are your partners in this work. We encourage Mayor Sutcliffe and City Council to take advantage of every opportunity to advocate for federal and provincial funding.
Last week over 2000 delegates from across the country gathered in Ottawa for the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness conference, to share lessons and strategize on achieving our shared goals. We took advantage of the presence of the federal Minister of Housing at our opening plenary and again at our welcome reception to push for federal support. We greatly appreciate Councillor Rawlson King’s welcome on behalf of the City at the opening plenary, and the attendance of Councillor Troster, several Councillor staffers, and key city staff.
This week, Ottawa will welcome almost 1000 delegates from across the Province at the Ontario Nonprofit Housing Association conference. ONPHA is a strong advocate with the Province and we appreciate the City’s participation at this conference as well.
Finally, the commitment to exploring innovative new tools is most welcome. We are seeing the impact of the Vacant Unit Tax, and I’m really keen to learn more about the initiative for debt financing. There will be a report coming forward this fall regarding Acquisitions, and I would encourage Council to leave funding room to pilot this initiative while we wait for the federal acquisitions funding to roll out.
The unfortunate reality is that despite best intentions, the needle continues to move in the wrong direction and we are talking about people’s lives. The housing crisis was created over decades and is exacerbated by factors beyond our control, and responses require funding outside municipal control. I urge Council to push as hard as you can to increase our city’s investment towards non-profit housing. It is cheaper, smarter, and more compassionate to invest in making sure that everyone in our community has a home.
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