Mayors urge Ontario to declare state of emergency to address homelessness, addiction

Outreach workers Greg Cook and Lorraine Lam distribute cold weather supplies to encampment residents as temperatures plummet in Toronto on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

TORONTO — The mayors of Ontario’s 29 largest cities are calling on the province to declare a state of emergency as municipalities deal with what they call a “community safety and humanitarian crisis” created by homelessness, mental health and addiction.

Ontario Big City Mayors urges the province to provide more funding and engage more actively with cities and other stakeholders in a motion passed unanimously on Friday.

The mayors caucus says municipalities covered more than 50 per cent of the $4.1 billion spent on homelessness and housing programs in 2024.

Caucus chair Marianne Meed Ward, the mayor of Burlington, Ont., says it is not sustainable for cities to continue funding at this rate and they have already “dug deep.”

She says addressing homelessness should not depend on property tax dollars, but municipalities are committing the resources because it is “simply unacceptable for us as leaders in our community who care for everyone to let those people suffer on the streets.”

A spokesman for the minister of municipal affairs and housing says the province has already made heavy investments to respond to homelessness.

Michael Minzak said Ontario is spending $75.5 million to build supportive and affordable housing and create more shelter spaces, in addition to $1.7 billion provided to municipalities to improve supportive housing, including through the Homelessness Prevention Program.

He said Ontario is also spending close to $550 million to create 28 homelessness and addiction recovery treatment hubs, or HART hubs.

“Our government is taking historic action to give municipalities the tools they need, and asked for,” Minzak said in a statement.

Some of the hubs replaced sites that previously offered supervised drug consumption but were forced to close earlier this year because of an Ontario law that bans such sites from being located within 200 metres of schools and daycares.

On Friday, mayors said that spending is not nearly enough to fully address the issue.

Citing a report by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario that was released earlier this year, the mayors caucus said there is a need to invest $11 billion towards ending homelessness over the next 10 years.

“This is a growing crisis,” said Toronto Deputy Mayor Paul Ainslie.

“Although we’ve seen some support from the provincial government, it’s not enough. Municipalities cannot solve this alone.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 5, 2025.

Sharif Hassan, The Canadian Press