New Homelessness Prevention Program Helping Break the Cycle of Home Insecurity
The Ontario government is investing an additional $25 million annually in a new Homelessness Prevention Program to connect people with housing services and other supports. This new program will streamline operations, allowing service managers to spend less time on paperwork and more time working with their clients to find housing and help those at risk of homelessness stay in their homes. This program will also give service managers more flexibility to target funding where it is needed the most.
“Our government inherited a homelessness prevention system administered through several different government programs that was underfunded, fragmented and overly complex,” said Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. “With Ontario’s new Homelessness Prevention Program, we are simplifying the delivery of services and increasing funding so our municipal partners can spend more time focusing on providing vulnerable Ontarians with the supports they need to stay in their homes or get the housing they need.”
The Homelessness Prevention Program launching on April 1, 2022, combines three programs: Community Homelessness Prevention Initiative, Home for Good, and the Strong Communities Rent Supplement Program. The additional funding brings Ontario’s total yearly investment in the program to close to $464 million.
Under this program the annual funding for local service providers will increase by more than $200,000:
- $88,928 to the Parry Sound DSSAB
- $111,627 to the District Municipality of Muskoka
“I am very pleased to see this increase in funding to support people experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness in Parry Sound – Muskoka. This new program will help to streamline services and allow service providers to spend more supporting clients. This new program and the increased funding will help break the cycle of home insecurity,” said Norman Miller, MPP for Parry Sound – Muskoka.
Under the new Homelessness Prevention Program, service managers will have more flexibility to target funding where it is needed the most and allow for greater financial accountability by measuring service managers’ progress in reducing and preventing homelessness in their communities.
The province is also investing an additional $6.7 million in the Indigenous Supportive Housing Program, bringing the total annual investment to $30 million.
