Wellesley Institute had the opportunity to present to the Government of Ontario’s pre-budget consultations in Newmarket, Ont. on Jan. 27, 2026. In addition to Ministry staff, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Finance, Michelle Cooper, local government member, Dawn Gallagher Murphy, and Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, Michael Parsa, were in attendance.
Wellesley chose to speak on behalf of the Supportive Housing for Ontario Table, of which we are a member, on the importance of a clear plan to end homelessness, including significant steps forward on supportive housing. Supportive housing has been identified as key to ending homelessness, yet we have tens of thousands too few supportive housing spaces in Ontario. A clear plan is required to deliver on this vital resource.
Jesse Rosenberg, Director of Policy, delivered the following remarks.
We know homelessness does enormous damage to health. Persons experiencing homelessness in one study had more than twice the hazard of death during the COVID-19 pandemic emergency. In Toronto, women experiencing homelessness die at a median age of 36.
I’m here today on behalf of a coalition of more than 25 organizations from across Ontario who work with your government to advance the best, proven solution to homelessness – supportive housing. A national evaluation of supportive housing by the Mental Health Commission of Canada found that every $10 investment into supportive housing yields $21.72 in public cost savings.
We can’t afford not to make these investments.
Your government can show the people of Ontario that you intend to end homelessness. The human and moral costs, the enormous cost savings, the economic opportunity costs, the costs to our workforce – they’re all too much to bear.
But more than that, we can have an Ontario where homelessness is solved, showing Ontarians what we can achieve together, even – no, especially – in this tumultuous period.
As the next step towards demonstrating to the people of Ontario your commitment to solving these problems, we’re calling on your government to provide the public with a multi-year plan with clearly articulated annual milestones and targets that will ensure supportive housing units will eventually be available for everyone who needs one.
To clear the wait lists and meet demand, we urge you to:
- Invest significantly in the supportive housing sector by adding at least 40,000 units, preferably non-profit owned and operated, to the provincial stock.
- Ensure equitable delivery of services to structurally disadvantaged groups.
- Improve inter-Ministerial policy and funding coordination within the Government of Ontario and among the three levels of government, including by centralizing resources, decision-makers and staff, and by streamlining supportive housing delivery, including reducing red tape at all three levels of government.
- Establish goals, objectives and targets for supportive housing that measure client and organization-wide outcomes related to health, well-being, and recidivism, and publicly demonstrate to the people of Ontario how this problem will be solved within 10 years.
We appreciate that your 2025 budget included some new supportive housing projects, and noted your recent funding announcement in Toronto. Your announcement last year of additional supportive housing in the new HART Hubs was a good start. But if we only add 375 units a year, it could be almost a century before this problem is solved.
We urge the government to take these immediate steps to address the need for supportive housing across Ontario, and we look forward to working with you to defeat homelessness in Ontario.