County to hire worker to gather data on homeless

Essex County Council voted last week to study homelessness in the county.

Essex County  will continue to support its homeless population, however it has opted not to establish a Community Services Contingency Fund.

County councillors voted to fund a temporary outreach worker to assist in gathering data on those individuals who utilize the Homeless Hub located in Leamington as part of the July 15 meeting.

“We want to make sure the rural homelessness situation is properly accounted for and  we believe that’s a challenging metric to measure,” said county CAO Sandra Zwiers.

In a detailed report from director of health and community services Natasha Sheeler, there continues to be frustration when it comes to leveraging dollars from the City of Windsor which is the regional service provider for funding.

“In our administrative discussions we identified a continued need to ensure the county is able to tell its story with the need in the county as it relates to homelessness,” said Zwiers.

Last month the county was looking at reducing services during the summer but a decision to put in $70,000, which was voted on last week, will prevent that from happening.

Kingsville Mayor Dennis Rogers said that homelessness programs in the county are more expensive than in the city.

“We have about $70,000 households in Essex County. If you asked each one to contribute one dollar, to me, that’s money well spent,” said Rogers

County administration had three recommendations. The $25,000 for the temporary worker, which will be from August to December, $70,000 to ensure the hub is open 24/7, 365 days a year and establishing a contingency fund for any future financials shortfalls.

“I  think it’s important that the services we provide, we continue to provide,” said Lakeshore Mayor Tracey Bailey. “I am opposed to the temporary worker and the contingency fund.”

The county has a budget of $1.2 million that is allocated for not only its Homeless Hub program but for the residential homes it supports as well. Zwiers said that with an increase in Old Age Pensions and ODSP to the residents, the county now has a surplus of about $216,000.

Bailey said that the county’s decision to start the Hub was a policy and that if the county was to set up a contingency fund it would go against policy.

“This is county taxpayers’ dollars we are talking about because we started a program that was non-funded.”

LaSalle Deputy Mayor Michael Akpata said that social services are a mandate responsibility of the province but was not opposed to make sure the local homeless were taken care of.

“I never want to see us put somebody on the street but I also think we are making it too easy for the provincial government to download things like this to us.”

County to hire worker to gather data on homeless

By Fred Groves