City of Sudbury says greater number of people than ever are living outdoors and unsheltered

The City of Sudbury says it's seeing more people living rough in encampments or simply unsheltered than it ever has before.

The manager of housing stability and homelessness said there are 237 people on the by-name housing list seeking shelter, and while that list has been longer in the past, there has never been a greater proportion of people waiting who are literally living outside.

Gail Spencer said that's clear from data they've collected.

She said there are currently 57 people on the list who are staying in tent encampments and another 68 who have declared themselves as unsheltered. Together, those groups represent more than half of the names on the by-name-list.

"Last year in April of this time, that group only made up 36 per cent of our by-name list," Spencer said.

But Spencer said the worsening situation is worrying with shelters operating at capacity throughout the winter.

"We don't have enough affordable housing and we certainly don't have enough housing with supports that will help people that have any sort of addiction or mental health, serious mental health condition to support them in getting housed and staying housed," she said.

She said there is a perfect storm of factors contributing to the crisis.

"Our vacancy rate is the lowest that it's been in 10 years," she said.

"We're seeing less and less landlords willing to work with our community partners in housing people who have any type of challenges and the average market rent continues to increase even though social assistance rates remain the same."

With federal homeless assistance funding running out by the end of the month and some overnight shelters and warming spaces closing, Spencer expects to see even more people on the street.

"We'll see more people in the community requiring support and we'll be out there," she said. "Our outreach teams will be out there trying to support people, but without housing, it's very challenging."

A non-profit group called the Go-Give Project has also been seeing an increase in people living in encampments and needing their help.

Shannon Scodnick, Go-Give's manager of community engagement, said they first noticed the troubling trend in January and February.

It has only grown since then.

She said where once they connected with 100 people during a five-hour shift, they're now reaching out to as many as 150 people a night with clean drug supplies, socks and food.

The closure of the supervised drug consumption site as well as the closure of the Sudbury Action Centre for Youth which provided shelter and services to at-risk youth are contributing to increased demand on their services, said Scodnick.

Many of the visits they make are to the growing numbers of encampments scattered around the city where as many as 16 or as few as two people may be living in makeshift shelters.

The demand is overwhelming their team.

Roadmap to end homelessness

"It is getting tough because right now we do have a team of two with one van and sometimes a volunteer, as well, that are on outreach per night," Scodnick said.

"But it's hard for one team. The other night they saw 128 people, so it was quite a busy night and I think soon it will be time to try and figure out ways to either get another vehicle and more team members out to meet the demand that's out there."

Both Spencer and Scodnick said housing is the only solution.

At the request of Sudbury council, staff is to present a roadmap next month to end homelessness by 2030.