A complex crisis: looking at short and long-term solutions for homelessness in downtown Ottawa

The issue of homelessness, along with mental health and addiction in the ByWard Market, were front and centre during a marathon meeting at city hall this week.

During the Community Services Committee meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 28, delegate after delegate spoke to issues including the number of people living outside, panhandling, drug use out in the open and safety and security issues facing Ottawa's most vulnerable – as well as residents.

The City of Ottawa first declared housing and homelessness an emergency in 2020.

Now in 2023, Sylvie Bigras of the Lowertown Community Association says issues in the ByWard Market, and many surrounding areas, are as bad as ever. 

“We're not doing any better in the ByWard Market and Lowertown in serving vulnerable people,” Bigras said. “It's actually getting a lot worse.”

Many of us are familiar with the issues, so what are some solutions? 

Bigras said there are both short and long-term solutions that could be looked at.

In the short term, she said more transitional housing would be a start. That would include safe rooms for those who are homeless, but not dealing with any mental health issues or addictions.

On what she'd like to see long-term, Bigras said there needs to be city-wide strategy and an overarching plan for how the city in its entirety delivers social services.

“What we're doing now is basically destroying the ByWard Market, destroying Lowertown — and Sandy Hill and Vanier are suffering as well,” Bigras said. ” One of the things we've learned is that concentrating on one ward when there are 24 in the city does not work. The cities that deliver social services properly actually have small-scale models spread throughout the city.”

In response to the role of the city in solving a very complex problem, Rideau-Vanier Coun. Stephanie Plante said there needs to be a more organized approach. 

“Coordination between law enforcement, social services, bylaw, 3-1-1 — stuff like that,” Platt said. “I'll be very honest, I found, sort of, the coordination at this point very lacking. You can have things like consumption sites without needles everywhere. You can have things like shelters without loitering. You can have thing like big retail structures and take care of vulnerable people.”

She adds there is proof these things are possible because it's already happening in other cities. 

“It's happening in cities all over the word. If you look at Times Square for example, that's a good example,” she said. “I think the City of Ottawa needs to acknowledge that the opioid crisis is here and that it needs a little bit more than just talking points. We have to take this very seriously because opioids are not going anywhere.”

As for Ottawa's mayor, Mark Sutcliffe said there are multiple areas in need of further investment in order to tackle homelessness, as well as changes in how mental health crises are dealt with.  

“We need to invest in social services and we need to build more affordable and supportive housing,” Sutcliffe said. “We also need to create an alternative response to mental health calls in our community. That work is being done and there will be more to come on that in the months ahead.”