Timmins hopes to receive more funding to address encampments

Timmins council has given the Cochrane District Services Board the go-ahead to apply for funding through Ontario's encampment response initiative. The province recently announced funding as a response to calls for action to address encampments throughout Ontario to restore safety in public spaces.

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“I think the goal is that come April or come the springtime, people are not going to be living in tents in the city of Timmins,” said Timmins Ward 3 councillor Bill Gvozdanovic.

“People are not going to be living in tents. That's basically, what the residents are saying. It's what the province is saying. Okay. But then what do you do?”

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Among several encampments dismantled in Timmins over the past few years, one was taken down in Hollinger Park before Christmas. Last month, Ontario announced it would provide extra funding – a total of $75.5 million – through three established funding streams.

The funding comes with a catch

“Now, the way this funding works, it's funding available for municipalities, but it has to be streamed through the service manager and so the service manager would submit the application,” said Timmins Mayor Michelle Boileau.

“(The service manager) would also have to issue a pledge to the municipality saying that, you know, ‘x’ number of dollars will be committed to the City of Timmins for the Encampment Response Project proposal that was put forth.”

The service manager in Timmins is the Cochrane District Services Board (CDSB,) but regardless of what it has in mind, it will need city council’s approval and the province said new reporting and accountability requirements are in place to ensure the money is providing safe and stable housing for people at risk of homelessness.

“It would be a couple of things, as the mayor said, restoration of what's already been destroyed in some of our parks, it would be, what we'd be looking at or what might be required to in terms of a shelter expansion to deal with, you know, whatever those specific pieces are of that and then, if we are looking at a tiny home type village or, I mean, it wouldn't be a tiny home village would be more like a mining camp type of thing,” said Dave Landers, the city’s chief executive officer.

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Landers said city council can expect a more specific plan from CSSAB by the end of January.