What causes homelessness in Northumberland?

Many communities in Ontario and across Canada have also been experiencing an increase in chronic homelessness. It is a complex issue and is due to many factors including:

• Inadequate social assistance rates
• Housing affordability crisis
• Rental vacancies crisis
• Increasingly complex needs of individuals – mental health, physical health, substance use disorders
• COVID-19 pandemic impacts on employment, access to health care and mental health care, and housing affordability
• Systemic oppression impacting those identifying as African, Black, Indigenous and racialized

Resolving this crisis requires continued support from all levels of government — municipal, Provincial and Federal — as well as a coordinated community-focused approach that addresses the root causes of homelessness.

Northumberland County is making strategic investments in housing and homelessness supports to address local need, and continues to work closely with our government and community partners to work on this very complex issue.