1) Community coalition aims to revolutionize homelessness support with new “Barrie Cares” initiative

Courtesy Barrie 360

By Newsroom, October 31, 2024

A newly formed coalition of private, public, and non-profit organizations has come together to address the complex issue of homelessness in Barrie. Dubbed “Barrie Cares,” this initiative is redefining the approach to homelessness by pooling resources and expertise from diverse community sectors. The coalition’s founders describe it as more than an organization—it’s a grassroots-driven call to action for the entire community to join.

“It really started as a grassroots kind of thing, just three of us who looked out our windows and thought, ‘There must be a more dignified, more effective approach to helping our homeless community,’” said Rowley Ramey, a key founding member of Barrie Cares and board chair. “By bringing public, private, and non-profit organizations together, we’re able to leverage each sector’s unique strengths, building on each other’s resources and ideas to create a holistic support system.”

Participating partners include Georgian College, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre, the Barrie Police Department, the County of Simcoe, and the Simcoe County branch of the Canadian Mental Health Association, among others. The coalition’s approach is multi-faceted: reducing the need for emergency health services, helping individuals transition from hospitals to stable community support, and providing resources to prevent reentry into homelessness.

“We’re open to anyone who shares our mission to support those who are unhoused or precariously housed,” said Ramey. “With each of these groups—whether public, private, or non-profit—bringing their challenges and strengths to the table, we’re able to have honest and open conversations. One man’s challenge might be another’s strength, so by collaborating this way, we can achieve much more.”

Tackling Issues Upstream and Downstream

The coalition meets regularly to discuss both immediate and long-term solutions. “It’s not just brainstorming; it’s action-driven,” explained Ramey. “We go upstream to identify systemic challenges—like how to support hospitals in managing patient care transitions—and we look downstream, finding community-driven ways to prevent those who’ve been discharged from returning to emergency services.”

The group is also advocating for Barrie’s inclusion in Ontario’s Hart Hub, a homelessness and addiction recovery treatment hub. Ramey shared that Barrie Cares envisions this as part of a broader “campus of care,” offering wraparound support for mental health and addiction recovery. “Our city deserves these resources, and we’re ready to advocate for them,” he said.

A “Live Aid” Approach for Community Collaboration

Ramey likens Barrie Cares to a “Live Aid” for homelessness, referring to the historic concert that brought together musicians of all genres for a common cause. “Each group has its own strengths and its unique style of service, but when we come together, we can do something amazing. By working collaboratively, we ensure we’re not duplicating services and that we’re complementing each other’s efforts for maximum impact.”

Engaging the Community

In keeping with its mission to unite the entire community, Barrie Cares is calling on residents, business owners, and anyone interested in joining the movement. “Whether as a volunteer, a donor, or a service provider, we’re inviting everyone in Barrie to come together. This isn’t just about us—it’s about creating a shared solution that everyone can contribute to,” Ramey urged.

As one of its first initiatives, Barrie Cares will participate in the homelessness enumeration, a survey that the County of Simcoe conducts every three years. The group is also working to secure endorsement for the Hart Hub and aims to add tailored questions to the survey to better understand the local needs.

“Our role is to connect the dots, bring in every available resource, and ensure a community-centered approach,” said Ramey. “It’s a big puzzle, but together, we can piece together a more effective and compassionate response to homelessness.”

2) (Updated) StatCan latest wealth survey shows stark disparity between homeowners, renters

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Ian Bickis, Oct. 29, 2024

Statistics Canada’s latest financial security survey shows a stark disparity between the wealth of homeowners and renters, even as it fails to capture the true scale what’s owned by Canada’s richest families.

The survey, conducted only every few years, shows home-owning families whose main earner was 55 to 64, and who had an employer-sponsored pension, had a median net worth of $1.4 million in 2023. Renters without a pension plan in the age group had a median net worth of $11,900.

Home ownership was the main factor in the difference, as those who owned their home but didn’t have a pension had a median net worth of $914,000, while those with a pension but did not own had a median net worth of $359,000.

The data released Tuesday also shows Canadians of all income brackets are trying to get into real estate, said Dan Skilleter, director of policy at economic inclusion non-profit Social Capital Partners.

“The most striking numbers they have in here are about just the growth of real estate as an asset class,” he said. 

“So it’s clear everyone’s been getting signals about how important that is, and I think that is dysfunctional, and has been leading to an unsustainable situation where real estate has become an essential stepping-stone to really have any financial security in Canada.”

The picture in the report was similar for families whose main earner was under 35, as the median net worth of those who own their principal residence was $457,100, compared with $44,000 for those who don’t.

The gap for young families is even larger than at first glance though, as Statistics Canada notes that of that $44,000 net worth, an increasing amount is due to renters owning real estate that is not their principal residence.  

It noted that of renters without pensions, 15 per cent had a net worth above $150,000 in 2023, compared with five per cent in 2019, as more buy into real estate. 

Overall, the survey found the median net worth of Canadian households was $519,700, up 57 per cent from 2019 when it was last conducted.

The median wealth of households under 35 was $159,100, up from $56,400 in 2019, while the 55 to 64 category was the richest at $873,400, up from $797,000 four years earlier. 

The survey involved a 45-minute questionnaire sent to a sampling of almost 40,000 homes to provide a detailed view of what families own and what debts they have. 

“It’s really the only survey we have where the government gets to peer into the full financial story of families,” Skilleter said.

The survey, however,  has a significant blind spot for Canada’s wealthiest. Statistics Canada divides the survey in tiers to make sure various household categories are represented, but the highest tier is the wealthiest five per cent in Canada, meaning anyone above about $2.4 million for the 2019 survey. 

The broad top category means the top one per cent, and 0.1 per cent, are hardly captured, Skilleter said.

“What’s not part of the survey is to take a broader look at the Canadian economy and see: is wealth concentration in general getting worse or getting better,” he said.

“And much to my dismay, they can’t even take a stab at answering that question, because they don’t set up their survey to even have a good chance of getting a single billionaire or 100 millionaire to take the survey.”

The richest family in the 2012 version of the survey had a net worth of $23.7 million, and $27.3 million in the 2016 report, while Credit Suisse estimates there are more than 5,500 Canadians with a net worth of more than $50 million, including 120 with a net worth of more than $500 million, Skilleter noted in an April report.

Statistics Canada said the share of wealth held by the top one per cent will be understated in this data source. Skilleter notes that the U.S. specifically carves out a tier for billionaires to make sure they’re represented in the results of its wealth survey, which helps to show the economic inequality in that country. 

Canada has looked more equal based on the data from the survey, but it can be misleading.

Data from the 2019 survey was used to estimate Canada’s top one per cent held about 13.7 per cent of wealth, and the 0.1 per cent held 2.8 per cent. But combining the survey with outside data like the Forbes rich list, the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated that the top one per cent held 24.8 per cent, and the top 0.1 per cent held 11.2 per cent of overall wealth. 

“We’re not even being made aware of the ways in which ownership of capital is dramatically increasing the fortunes of some,” Skilleter said. 

“That would give rise to a more frank conversation about the different ways that public policy…could intervene and make people’s lives better.”

3) Fewer young Canadians own homes but majority planning to buy within five years: poll

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Canadian Press Staff, Oct. 29, 2024.

A new report says that while fewer young Canadians own a home compared with three years ago, a majority of millennials and Gen Z adults still plan to purchase one in the next five years.

Scotiabank’s 2024 housing poll says the number of Canadians between 18 and 34 who own a home has declined to 26 per cent today from 47 per cent in 2021.

Around 29 per cent of people in that age group are now living with parents or family, up from around one fifth of those surveyed three years ago.

But despite housing market challenges, the survey says 58 per cent of non-homeowners aged 18 to 43 in Canada are still determined to purchase a home within the next five years.

It says there is a “confidence gap” among young Canadians when it comes to the homebuying process, with 63 per cent of Gen Z and 54 per cent of millennials indicating they want clearer information and support from financial institutions.

Over half of Canadians in that cohort say the current economic environment is negatively impacting their finances to the point they must delay their home-buying plans.

4) Canadian cities struggling to get past ‘Whac-A-Mole’ solution to homeless encampments

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Joe Bongiorno, October 27, 2024

On a strip of grass dividing a busy east-end Montreal thoroughfare from a block of residences in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district stand about two dozen tents, a reflection of a housing market that can’t provide enough affordable homes.

Tents along that strip of land adjacent to Notre-Dame Street have come and gone since 2020, when the number of homeless people rose rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Homeless people build shelters there and in other empty spaces across the city, and social workers — under police supervision — dismantle them, forcing campers to pitch their tents somewhere else, only to evict them once again.

Montreal and other Canadian cities are struggling with the seemingly intractable problem of homelessness and trying various approaches to stop people from sleeping rough, often with mixed results. But while the issue of homelessness may not be easy to fix, experts say what’s clear is that evictions aren’t helping.

Isidro Escobar, 22, has called one of the tents on Notre-Dame Street home for almost a year. Before that, he lived in a tent by the old CBC tower 1.5 kilometres down the street. 

“I lost everything after my divorce,” he said Thursday.

Escobar said the City of Montreal has given him two eviction orders. But he said that if he’s forced to leave, he’ll pitch a tent somewhere else.

Not far from Escobar, Devint Vézina, 40, was rebuilding his tent for the fifth time, he said, adding his latest one will be big enough for 10 people. 

“Where do you want me to go? That’s the real question.”

When asked, a Montreal city spokesperson didn’t specify where people like Escobar and Vézina should go, but said that “urban encampments are not a viable, safe or permanent solution.” The city said it is working with community organizations to get people sleeping rough into affordable housing with services adapted to their needs.

Montreal does not keep a list of encampments or send workers to look for them. Instead, when a tent encampment is reported, officials evaluate whether it poses a safety risk, including for fires. In August Montreal announced a pilot project for 60 modular housing units for the unhoused by March 2025.

The City, however, continues to dismantle homeless encampments — 110 of them between January and May 2024, according to a report by Le Journal de Montréal.

Montreal is not addressing the homelessness problem by evicting people from encampments, said James Hughes, president and CEO of Old Brewery Mission. Municipalities, he said, need to follow the lead of cities like Houston, Texas, which creates plans for vulnerable people to get into housing while providing support for them while they are staying in an encampment. 

“Old and coercive policies” like evictions, Hughes said, are akin to playing “Whac-A Mole” — forcing people out of one area only to have them pitch a tent down the street, or into a spot far from public view where they can’t receive aid if they are in trouble. 

The City of Halifax, meanwhile, has taken a different approach to Montreal. There are five designated locations across Halifax on which homeless people can pitch a tent, a “temporary response until suitable shelter and housing options are available,” the city said.

The people sleeping rough at these locations have access to toilet facilities, potable water and needle collections. As well Nova Scotia has purchased small, self-contained Pallet shelters for unhoused people in the province, with 85 destined for the Halifax region.

Jeff Karabanow, a professor at Dalhousie University’s school of social work, described designated homeless encampments as deeply problematic, unhealthy and undignified. Still, he said, they are worth having until resources are rerouted from emergency shelters to affordable housing.

However, municipalities that adopt policies tolerating encampments may suffer political backlash at the ballot box. Earlier this month Andy Fillmore, a former Liberal MP, was elected Halifax mayor in a landslide after taking aim at encampments, saying the city’s approach has had the effect of attracting out-of-province unhoused people — a claim that Karabanow said is untrue.

For its part, the City of Toronto said it has adopted a “people-first, human rights-based approach” to connect people with shelters, services and housing. Advocates say the city began changing how it responds to homeless people after a Toronto ombudsperson investigation found “significant unfairness” in the way officials cleared encampments in 2021.

Toronto community worker Diana Chan McNally believes the city’s change in attitude is a step in the right direction but remains flawed because only some encampments receive support. 

“We have a two-tier approach,” she said, adding the city continues to dismantle encampments and there still isn’t enough affordable housing to meet demand.

Part of the problem is that coexistence is uneasy for people in encampments and residents of nearby homes.

“No neighbourhood in the city wants the new homeless resource, or wants the subsidized housing in their area, or wants the tiny homes in their area, whatever the solution you’re looking at people object,” said David Chapman, executive director of community group Resilience Montreal.

Hugo Michel-Verville, who lives across from the Notre-Dame Street encampment, said he has been spat on and yelled at by his unhoused neighbours. Calls to the City of Montreal, to police and to intervention workers have been ignored, he said.

“It doesn’t seem like there’s a road map either, short-term or long-term, to solve this, and this is what’s frightening.”