‘The need continues to grow’: Community agencies lay out proposals part of province’s pre-budget consultation

Provincial officials were in London for pre-budget consultations. CTV’s Gerry Dewan reports on opportunity for local leaders to make their pitch.

Making the case for more funding, a provincial pre-budget consultation session came to London on Wednesday.

It allowed social agencies, education institutions, and business organizations to outline their priorities for the upcoming financial statement.

The Ford government consistently pointed to London’s hub approach as a way to address the challenges of homelessness and addictions, patterning the concept across the province.

Addressing the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, Canadian Mental Health Association Thames Valley CEO Pam Tobin gave a sense of the demand for services since the London HART (Homelessness and Addictions Recovery Treatment) Hub opened.

“Since we opened just recently we’ve been at capacity, and our waiting list is full,” said Tobin.

The London HART Hub opened at the end of October inside the Salvation Army Center of Hope. Tobin said the key now is to ensure funding is sustained in order to allow the Hub to see ongoing success.

The province is investing just over $6 million a year for three years for the London HART Hub. Tobin is looking to ensure ongoing funding for the hub and other programs designed to address social issues.

“We need ongoing base funding. The need continues to grow. We need to be able to provide coordinated care,” said Tobin.

Committee member Bobbi Ann Brady, an independent MPP from Haldimand-Norfolk, expressed reservations.

“We still see a patchwork of approaches that are not producing the outcomes that we would expect. So, more and more money and no positive outcomes as we see numbers rise,” said Brady.

Speaking to CTV News, London-North-Centre NDP MPP Terence Kernaghan said Tobin made a strong economic case for supporting the programs.

“Housing someone with full wraparound supports costs $4,000 per [month], as opposed to $6,000 in shelter, $12,000 in jail, or $30,000 when someone is in hospital,” he said.

Not inside the meeting were representatives of the London Health Coalition. The said they couldn’t get a space on docket and instead held a brief demonstration outside the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel, where the session was taking place.

Health Coalition co-chair Peter Bergmanis argued the government continues to favour funnelling money to private healthcare rather than addressing hospital needs.

“St. Joseph’s Hospital in deficit, London Health Sciences legendarily in deficit and there’s no money to make them balanced,” said Bergmanis.

The hearings started in December and will wrap up at the end of January.