Issue Note: Ford’s Encampment Legislation

On December 12, 2024, Premier Ford announced two new pieces of legislation: the Safer Municipalities Act, 2024 and the Restricting Public Consumption of Illegal Substances Act, 2024. This announcement follows a letter from the Premier to a number of Ontario Mayors last week promising new legislation which would provide municipalities with tools and additional funding to clear homeless encampments, give police more authority to enforce a prohibition on public drug use, and create stiffer penalties for those who “deliberately and continually break the law.” 

KEY MESSAGES – TOP LEVEL:

• The premier indicated today that vulnerable individuals who need mental health and addictions support will receive the care they need for the rest of their lives, a statement which was supported by both the ministers of housing and mental health.

• We are confused by these comments, as we have been asking for years for funds to ensure that we have the capacity to serve Ontarians in need.

• We stand at the ready to receive new resources and investments to address the crumbling infrastructure of our sector and to help meet this commitment.

• We are in dire need of resources and investments to address the crumbling infrastructure of our sector.

• 26 of 27 CMHA branches are facing dire financial circumstances and are projecting significant deficits for the upcoming fiscal year. All told, our CMHAs may be facing deficits of $35 million dollars.

• The community mental health and addictions sector has received only one base budget increase of 5 per cent over the last 11 years or more. At the same time inflation has gone up at least 30 per cent.

• Without appropriate operating funds we’re unable to hire and retain the workforce we need, maintain programming and ensure Ontario’s critical mental health and addictions infrastructure can accommodate the growing demand for services.

• Without staff, we must cut programs or maintain longer wait lists.

• Our branches often work outside the traditional 9-5 hours to serve people that are more difficult to reach; if we need to cut program hours, this often means that clients with the highest needs can no longer access services.

• When a person with addictions is ready to access help, if they are put on a waitlist instead of being provided services immediately, there is a good chance we have lost the opportunity to help them.

• CMHA is asking for an investment of $113 million dollars in the 2025/2026 budget to stabilize operating costs, expand crisis services and operate more supportive housing units.

• $33 million per year for four years to stabilize operating costs at our 27 branches across the province and ensure that Ontario’s critical mental health and addictions infrastructure can accommodate the growing demand for services;

• $20 million to expand crisis services including new crisis hubs;

• $60 million per year for two years to operate an additional 5,000 supportive housing units.

• The legislature is set to rise today (Thursday, December 12) and is currently not scheduled to return until February 18, meaning the legislation will likely not be passed until at least late February, if at all.

• The lack of an integrated and comprehensive response to homelessness has consistently been a top concern of municipal governments. Mental health and addictions have a significant impact on municipal health and human services, as well as a unique impact on emergency services.

• A recent poll conducted by Pollara Strategic Insights on behalf of CMHA Ontario shows that more than eight in 10 (81 per cent) of Ontarians would prefer a solution to the opioid crisis that is focused on health care and social services support, rather than punishment through the criminal justice system.

KEY MESSAGES – HOUSING & SUBSTANCE USE STATS

Housing

• In 2023, there were at least 1,400 homeless encampments across Ontario.[1]  

• According to data from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, 235,000 Ontarians are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.[2]

• 200,000 Ontarians are waiting years for affordable rent-geared-to income access to social housing[3]

• The Financial Accountability Office estimates that over 16,000 Ontarians are homeless on any given night, between 40 and 60 per cent of whom are experiencing chronic homelessness.[4]

• It is estimated that up to 100,000 new supportive housing units are needed across Ontario

• 15,000 people in Toronto alone are currently waiting to access MHA supportive housing[5]

• Up to 69 per cent of the costs of a Housing First approach are offset by savings in other societal costs, such as shelter and health care costs.

Drug Poisoning

• Annually, there are between 2,500 and 3,000 opioid toxicity deaths in Ontario (around one death every three hours) largely due to the toxic unregulated drug supply[6]

• The rates of opioid-related hospitalizations and deaths are higher among workers in the construction, mining, oil and gas[7]

• A 2021 study revealed that almost 60 per cent of people who died from opioid toxicity were employed and one-third of these people worked in the construction industry[8]

• The use of opioids by high school students has increased more than 70% from 2021 to 2023[9]

• Between 2014 and 2021, the number of opioid-related deaths among teens and young adults in Ontario tripled[10]

Health Impact of SCS Closures

• While HIV infection rates have declined globally by approximately 22 per cent, the opposite is true in Canada, where we have seen a 35.2% increase since 2022 (2,434 new HIV diagnoses in 2023)[11]

• According to an annual report by Alberta Health, the number of reported HIV cases in the province has:

• nearly doubled since 2019;

• increased 73 per cent between 2022 and 2023, which aligns with CTS site closures beginning in 2020.[12]

KEY MESSAGES – PUNITIVE MEASURES TO ADDRESS HOMELESSNESS

• CMHA recognizes the importance of public safety and efforts to decrease distribution of toxic drugs, but we are concerned that this initiative could have serious negative consequences. 

• Introducing these new legal consequences will put increased strain on our local health and justice system and resources. 

• Substance use and addiction is a health issue requiring evidence-based treatment and supported by harm reduction services, not a criminal record.  

• Charging and prosecuting individuals who use substances only stigmatizes them and discourages those with problematic use from seeking support and treatment.  

• CMHA supports pre-charge diversion programs, where police services consider diversion as a viable option to laying formal charges in cases where harm can be reduced to the victim, community, and individuals who uses substances through community supports and address the social determinants of health. 

BACKGROUND – CMHA HOUSING:

• CMHA branches work with people experiencing housing precarity in addition to other mental health and/or addiction challenges. Since the COVID-19 pandemic and years of dealing with the drug poisoning crisis our branches report that the context of homelessness has changed in Ontario.

• With approximately 6,000 housing spaces for clients, CMHA branches support clients in both transitional housing programs, a step between homelessness and long-term permanent housing, and permanent supportive housing programs.

BACKGROUND – SUMMARY OF LEGISLATION:

• On December 12, 2024, the province introduced both the Safer Municipalities Act, which amends parts of the Trespass to Property Act, and the Restricting Public Consumption of Illegal Substances Act

• Amendments to the Trespass to Property Act will:

• enhance penalties for people who “deliberately and continually” break the law by adding the new aggravating factors of “continuous trespassing and the likelihood to reoffend” as factors that will be applied during sentencing

• direct the court to increase the penalty for people who refuse to leave a property after they have received a notice to do so or are found likely to reoffend to a maximum fine of $10,000

• Amendments to the Restricting Public Consumption of Illegal Substances Act will:

• allow police and other provincial offence officers to “direct individuals to stop using illegal substances or to leave the public space” and issue a ticket or arrest someone who does not comply and continually breaks the law

• Allow for penalties for violating this law, including in encampments, include fines up to $10,000 or up to six months in prison

• The province also announced it would be investing $75.5 million for programs that “provide more long-term stable housing and temporary accommodations for those living in encampments,” divided between:

• $5.5 million to top up the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit (COHB) to immediately free-up emergency shelter spaces for people living in encampments by helping people living in shelters move into longer-term housing

• $20 million to expand shelter capacity and create additional temporary accommodation spaces, like tiny modular units and climate-controlled semi-permanent structures

• $50 million designated for ready-to-build affordable housing projects across the province. This funding will be allocated based on how close a project is to completion, as well as its value for money, to help projects near completion but in need of targeted additional funding

• The province will be requiring service managers who receive funding to report on the number of individuals moved from encampments into new accommodations and to submit spending plans to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing for review and approval

• This legislation was tabled on December 12, the final date that the legislature is sitting in 2024; the earliest either or both could become law would therefore be in February 2025 once it goes through the legislative process

• Given that there is widespread speculation that an early election will be called in Spring 2025, it is unclear if and when this proposed legislation will come into effect. In the event that the province wants to pass these laws before an election, they would likely accelerate it by limiting opportunities for debate and public consultation

BACKGROND – ENCAMPMENTS:

Mayor Requests

• There has been ongoing discussion at the Ontario Big City Mayors Caucus (OBCM) that municipalities require more powers and support from the province to reduce the size and number of encampments across Ontario.

• The mayors are aligned on the need for more support and funding but divided on whether stronger enforcement powers are required to reduce the number of encampments or will be at all helpful in addressing underlying problems.

• On October 31st, at the request of Premier Ford, 13 mayors from OBCM sent a letter to Premier Ford asking for the government to use the notwithstanding clause to override a court decision preventing municipalities from clearing homeless encampments if their shelters are full.

• The Mayors from Welland, Guelph, Brampton, Cambridge, Barrie, Niagra falls, Brantford, Pickering, Oshawa, Oakville, Clarington, Midland, Windsor, St. Catherines and a councilor from Orilla attended the announcement on December 12.

• The notwithstanding clause is needed because of a January 2023 ruling by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice that Waterloo Region could not use a municipal bylaw to evict people living in an encampment in Kitchener because that bylaw was deemed to be in violation of Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The judge said a lack of shelter spaces means the bylaw infringed upon Charter rights.

Public Opinion

• Municipalities are facing pressure to quickly find a solution for encampments as some residents and businesses complain about tents in their neighbourhood parks. City staff must also occasionally deal with sporadic violence and hazards like fire as encampment residents rely on makeshift heat sources for survival. The pressure to solve this problem has caused officials to focus on immediate but downstream enforcement rather than on upstream solutions, long-term solutions such as creating more supportive housing, expanding access to mental health and addictions services, and changes to social assistance programs. 

• According to an Abacus Data survey commissioned by the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness only 12% of Ontarians support “stronger law enforcement measures to clear encampments.”[13]

• At the same time, 65% said they were “concerned about the impact of encampments in their community”.
  • While Ford said he is “fully prepared” to override the courts by using the Constitution’s “notwithstanding clause” to secure his legislation and “dismantle” encampments, 40 per cent of poll respondents said they would oppose that.

[1] AMO, Homeless Encampments in Ontario, July 2024, pg.2, https://www.amo.on.ca/sites/default/files/assets/DOCUMENTS/Homelessness/2024/AMO_Homeless-Encampments-in-Ontario_2024-07-02.pdf

[2] 234,000 was also used in Hansard yesterday

[3] Financial Accountability Office, March 2021, https://www.fao-on.org/en/Blog/Publications/affordable-housing-2021

[4] Housing-and-Homelessness-Programs-EN.pdf

[5] The Trilluim August 13, Ontario’s ‘unofficial estimate’ of homeless population is 234,000: documents, https://www.thetrillium.ca/news/housing/ontarios-unofficial-estimate-of-homeless-population-is-234000-documents-9341464

[6] https://www.ontario.ca/files/2024-04/moh-cmoh-annual-report-2023-en-2024-04-02.pdf

[7] https://opioidsandwork.ca/data-tool/poisonings

[8] https://odprn.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Opioid-Toxicity-in-the-Construction-Industry-Report-Final.pdf

[9] https://www.camh.ca/-/media/research-files/osduhs-drug-use-report_2023.pdf

[10] https://odprn.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Opioids-among-Adolescents-and-Young-Adults-Report.pdf

[11] https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/diseases-conditions/hiv-2023-surveillance-highlights-infographic.html

[12] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-hiv-cases-rising-1.7356410

[13] https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/doug-fords-get-tough-encampment-plan-coming-thursday-but-ontarians-are-divided-over-the-approach/article_aeacf5d8-b633-11ef-b786-67d9d120ee8b.html