The number of people experiencing homelessness in Chatham-Kent has nearly tripled in the last five years and a recent report indicates it will likely worsen.
According to the municipality, there were 84 people experiencing homelessness in December 2019 and, as of this month, that number has jumped by 171 per cent to 228 people.
Chatham-Kent officials added that there are currently around 75 to 100 people living in one of the ten known encampment locations in the municipality. However, the number of encampments changes frequently.
The homeless shelter in Chatham, Victoria Park Place, is consistently running at capacity or near capacity, the municipality said. Hope Haven, a local non-profit drop-in centre, is also seeing around 50 people per night for warming services and about 30 of them stay for the entire evening.
The Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) recently released a comprehensive study on the increasing toll of homelessness in Ontario, which stated that there were more than 80,000 Ontarians who were known to be homeless in 2024, a 25 per cent jump compared to 2022.
“Without significant intervention, homelessness in Ontario could double in the next decade, and reach nearly 300,000 people in an economic downturn,” the AMO report stated.
Among other factors, Chatham-Kent officials are citing frozen Ontario Works rates and inadequate Ontario Disability rates for driving new people into homelessness daily.
Chatham-Kent officials said administration will continue to lobby upper levels of government for increased funding, additional resources, and expanded programs to help address homelessness in the community.
In the meantime, Chatham-Kent Council has recently approved additional support for those experiencing homelessness including additional funding for Hope Haven to open as an overnight warming centre, increasing ROCK outreach services to seven days a week, and transitioning from congregate shelters to transitional cabins.
