A two-person delegation from Chatham-Kent is in Toronto this week in an effort to learn more about the root causes and potential solutions to the homelessness crisis in communities across Ontario.

Nearly 250 elected officials, municipal staff, social service groups, and healthcare professionals from around the province have gathered for the Ending Homelessness Symposium. Hosted by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), the two-day event on Wednesday and Thursday offers attendees different perspectives on the root causes of homelessness, including income insecurity, a lack of affordable housing, insufficient responses to mental health, and addiction challenges.

Polly Smith, CK’s director of Employment and Social Services, is attending the symposium on behalf of the municipality and said she and her colleague have heard from a variety of speakers including mayors, members of advocacy groups, and those who provide homelessness services.

“There are different ways of coming to good solutions that we have to explore,” said Smith. “We did hear clearly that homelessness is not going anywhere. It’s new to us that have rural communities and we do need to treat rural areas differently and expand our services to be more present outside of our city centres.”

Smith said the information provided through the forum speaks to how homelessness is impacting Ontario citizens and what can be done about it collectively in each community. She said it’s important to pool ideas on issues such as homelessness to look at it from “a community perspective and not simply from a social service perspective or just a housing perspective.”

Municipalities can’t afford to sit idle on the issue of homelessness, Smith said.

“They can’t wait for upper levels of government to do the work or provide all of the funding needed. There has to be some solutions at the municipal level,” she said.

Smith added that a summary of the information received at the symposium will be provided to members of council upon her return to Chatham-Kent. A more in-depth update on the homelessness situation in Chatham-Kent will then be provided to council in June.

“We’ll talk about the way things are right now and our suggestions for the future,” said Smith.