Rebuilding Owen Sound
A Practical Plan to Reduce Homelessness, Support Recovery and Restore Public Order
Many reading this will say, this is a County responisbility, why are we
putting it on Council. Well our current mayor gained
notoriety by responding to a question on homelessness by saying something
to the effect: "not my problem".Ask yourself, How has that been
working for us? All members of our council need to actively raise the problems by speaking at County meetings until the problem is solved.
It's time to break the mould
Fewer people living on our streets, fewer people trapped in addiction, and safer public spaces for everyone.
That requires a different approach—one based on housing, recovery, accountability and measurable results.
Two Problems Require Different Solutions
Not everyone experiencing homelessness is in the same situation. Some are economically unhoused because of rising rents, low incomes, family breakdown or a shortage of affordable housing. They need affordable housing, rent assistance, employment support and a pathway back to stability.
Others are chronically homeless because of severe addiction, mental illness or a combination of complex challenges. Some repeatedly reject treatment or structured housing and remain caught in a cycle of addiction, homelessness and public disorder.
These circumstances require different responses.
Housing should be the priority for those who can become stable with housing and support. Recovery and structured intervention must be available for those whose addiction or mental illness prevents them from maintaining stable housing.
In both cases, the objective should be to move people off the streets and toward a more stable life.
Medicine Hat: A Canadian Example
Owen Sound does not have to invent the solution. Medicine Hat, Alberta, demonstrated that chronic homelessness can be substantially reduced when a community combines Housing First, coordinated services, housing, treatment and clear performance measures.
The important lesson is not that Owen Sound can simply copy Medicine Hat. It is that homelessness does not have to be accepted as a permanent condition.
Success requires leadership willing to coordinate agencies, establish measurable objectives and continually ask whether the approach is working.
Turn Assets Into Housing
Owen Sound should also reconsider how it uses its community assets. The City's art collection has been valued at approximately $30 million. Much of that collection is not producing an ongoing financial return and requires storage and preservation.
At the same time, people in Owen Sound are struggling to find affordable housing. Council should therefore examine whether some or all of these assets could be converted into a permanent housing endowment fund.
The purpose would not be to eliminate culture or attack the arts. It would be to convert an underutilized asset into a long-term source of housing investment. The fund could help:
• Encourage construction of affordable rental units;
• Provide rent supplements; • Convert suitable vacant buildings into housing;
• Partner with non-profit housing providers; and
• Create transitional and supportive housing.
The principle is simple:
Use community assets to address the community's most pressing needs.
Recovery and Public Order
Addiction is a health issue. Public disorder is also a community responsibility. Owen Sound should work with Grey County, healthcare providers and the Province to improve access to detoxification, addiction treatment, mental-health services and recovery-oriented supportive housing.
But public spaces cannot become substitutes for treatment facilities. Parks, sidewalks and downtown streets must remain safe and accessible to everyone. Laws and bylaws should be enforced consistently, including laws relating to public drug use, vandalism, theft, violence and other offences.
This is not about criminalizing homelessness. It is about recognizing that being homeless does not remove a person's responsibility to respect other people and the law.
At the same time, enforcement should be connected to opportunities for treatment and recovery wherever possible.
Measure Results—Not Activity
Perhaps the most important change is to stop measuring success by how much the City spends or how many people pass through a program. We should measure outcomes. Council and taxpayers should know:
• How many people are experiencing homelessness;
• How many obtain permanent housing;
• How many remain housed;
• How many enter treatment;
• How many return to homelessness;
• How many encampments are resolved;
• How public drug use and disorder are changing; and
• What each major initiative costs.
The ultimate measure of success should be whether fewer people are living on Owen Sound's streets. A Different Approach Owen Sound cannot solve homelessness by simply moving people from one public space to another. Nor can we solve it by endlessly expanding services without measuring whether they work. We need a system that combines compassion with accountability, housing with recovery, and assistance with personal responsibility. Most importantly, we need leadership prepared to change course when existing approaches do not produce results. The goal should not be to manage homelessness indefinitely. The goal should be to reduce it—one person, one family and one successful recovery at a time. That is how we begin rebuilding Owen Sound.
The only solution that has every worked is: Housing First