TRILLIUM TALK: How dire is the homeless crisis in Ontario? New stats shed some light

Trillium Talk - A weekly briefing from the Ontario Legislature from the team at The Trillium

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Welcome back to Trillium Talk, your must-see briefing from Village Media’s team of journalists at the Ontario Legislature.

Every Sunday, Scott Sexsmith sits down with one of our staffers at The Trillium to talk about the week that was at Queen's Park — and the week ahead.

On the show today is reporter Jack Hauen, who will be in Ottawa this week for the annual conference of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO). The big item on this year's agenda is homelessness, a challenge that continues to get worse in communities across the province.
As The Trillium exclusively reported this week, the province now puts the "unofficial estimate" of Ontario's homeless population at a staggering 234,000 people. A separate report prepared by AMO tallied at least 1,400 homeless encampments across Ontario.

As Hauen reported, big city mayors are calling for more leadership from the Ford government on mental health, addictions and homelessness — including a single point of contact and more stable funding.

Hauen also discusses another big issue that made headlines this week: the province's plan to charge child-cares centres located in government buildings "full market-rate rents" starting next year. For some operators, it could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in increased costs.