The province has announced funding to help 6,000 families in need to remain permanently housed.
As part of Ontario’s Poverty Reduction Strategy, the province announced that it is increasing its operating funding for housing assistance and support services to $100 million annually, beginning in 2019-20. The supports include counselling, addictions services and life skills training, that will help people who are homeless and experiencing addictions, or living with mental illness or disabilities, to obtain housing and remain permanently housed.
Ontario is also allocating $20 million in operating funding over the next two years to ensure Indigenous people have increased access to supportive housing.
Supportive housing is a key element in enabling people with complex needs to find stable housing, lead fulfilling lives and live as independently as possible in their community. As part of this announcement, the government also released the final version of the Supportive Housing Framework, which provides a common vision, principles and outcomes to guide both provincial and local program improvements and support coordination across sectors to better meet people’s needs. The Framework will apply to all supportive housing-related programs in the ministries of Housing, Health and Long-Term Care, Community and Social Services and Children and Youth.