Barrie Mayor Alex Nuttall travelled across the country to meet with Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, to compare strategies and make plans to push higher levels of government to spend more on the homelessness crisis. He met with Mayor Sim Thursday, the two touting what they say is headway on what Sim calls a “humanitarian crisis.” “It was wonderful to have an invitation from Mayor Sim to discuss some of the strategies that we both have been employing when it comes to homelessness and addictions and providing support for those who need it in our communities, but also ensuring that we have the safety and security that are required,” Nuttall said in an interview with CTV News. Mayor Sim said, while the sizes of the cities are different, the challenges are the same. He argued the problems in Barrie may even be greater than Vancouver because Barrie is smaller, so it doesn’t have the resources that a larger city does. Sim explained to Nuttall some of what Vancouver is using to address its homelessness crisis. That includes a program called Car 87/88, a mobile crisis response team with a mental health nurse and a police officer. Mayor Nuttall said that is something Barrie is looking into. He said the provincial government has sponsored a pilot project for Barrie Police to copy the Vancouver project and he believes that will get long-term funding as it’s “been proven to be a successful approach.” Nuttall said the focus is on providing long-term help for those experiencing homelessness in Barrie. He said he could feel a change in Vancouver from how the homelessness issue used to be to how it is now, in terms of safety and security on the streets and providing long-term, mandatory help. Sim said ultimately, higher levels of government need to step in to help, and not just provincial and federal governments, but other municipalities in the region, so the bulk of the homelessness problem doesn’t fall on just Vancouver. “We don’t have the tools to deal with the challenges because we don’t have jurisdiction. We’re not health care, we’re not bail reform. And so, if senior levels of government don’t step up, cities like Vancouver and Barrie are going to have to deal with challenges that we just don’t have the tools to deal with,” Mayor Sim said. Nuttall said Vancouver made a “massive investment” in things like safe injection sites, an initiative that hasn’t happened in Barrie. Mayor Nuttall said 8,000 supportive housing units went up in Vancouver. “When you look at that versus what is available in our region, I think there’s a very comparable situation in Barrie and Simcoe County. And they’re facing it before I am.” Nuttall said his response to homelessness is working, pointing to one example. “Last week, we had a couple that were dealing with addictions, living in a tent, and were able to go through the HART Hub, get help and support and now they’re actually out getting back to work. And to be able to move from their supportive housing eventually, maybe into affordable housing and then hopefully into to some sort of market ownership or rent. And that’s the dream. That’s what we want to see as a vision for individuals experiencing this kind of pain.” The two mayors are looking for more municipal leaders to join them in their push for the provinces and federal government to take serious action on homelessness.
