Ottawa Mission coping with ‘unprecedented need’ as addiction concerns grow
Posted Sep 23, 2026 11:52:43 AM.
Last Updated Sep 24, 2026 09:47:32 AM.
The best way to cope with homelessness and addiction in the nation’s capital is by preventing it, the Ottawa Mission says, but the organization is still seeing an “unprecedented need” even with its efforts.
In the 2025-2026 impact report, which paints a picture of what the Mission sees on a daily basis in Ottawa, the alarm bells have not stopped ringing. The homelessness shelter supports people who need food, a place to sleep, health care, addiction and trauma services, and the data shows more people need help than ever.
“Over the past year, we’ve responded to hunger and food insecurity by handing out more meals than ever before,” the report reads. “Once again, our shelter beds and overflow sleeping mats unfortunately remained fully occupied for 365 days of the year.”
Peter Tilley, the CEO of the organization, said that the growing unsheltered homelessness in the municipality is compounding with increased overdoses, encampments and more signs that the community is under “increasing stress.”
“Provincial decisions such as the closure of all four of Ottawa’s supervised consumptions sites have made this situation worse,” he said.
Two years ago, the Ontario government forced the closure of health centres across the province if offered a place to provide a safe, clean space for people to bring in their own drugs to use. Safe consumption sites, according to the Government of Canada “show clearly that supervised consumption services help to save lives, connect people to social services and serve as pathways to treatment.”
Premier Doug Ford wanted the centres converted to Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs, taking away the ability for people to consume drugs or test their products to avoid overdoses.
A spokesperson from Ontario’s Ministry of Health told CityNews in an email that all the HART Hubs are receiving four times the funding than the previous sites.
“Instead of giving people tools to use harmful, illegal drugs, our government is helping people break the tragic cycle of drug addiction by making record investments in more mental health and wrap-around supports,”Lily Barnes, Press Secretary for the Office of Minister Sylvia Jones, said. “Across the province, we are investing a historic $560 million to build 29 Homeless and Addictions Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs, replacing the failed approach of drug injection sites.”
According to the Mission’s data, total shelter occupancy has declined to just over 8,743 visits last year, but the number of people living in the shelters remains high. The Mission’s focus has been housing first, trying to divert people who come to its doors with no other options.
Diversion looks like a minimum amount of time spent in the shelter or finding safe housing for people so they can start getting help. It notes that last year 59 people were diverted from ever staying in the shelter and safe housing was found for 165 people.
On any given night, the Ottawa Mission’s shelter is at capacity, with it also providing mats on top of beds get people off the streets. About 1,370 were in the shelter last year, not including repeat visits; of that 12 per cent were refugees.
“Concerted efforts to secure safe, appropriate and affordable housing is needed now more than ever given continuing high rents in Ottawa combined with other challenging circumstances such as increasing food insecurity, poverty, substance use, mental health distress, and other factors,” the report reads.
In 2025, the Mission provided a daily average of 3,352 meals to people, equaling over 1.2 million served over the year. On top of its front facing food bank, it also hands out grocery bags to people in need.
One in four households in Ottawa are food insecure, Ottawa Public Health details.
The Mission is gearing up for its annual turkey drive, where it asks people to donate frozen birds to help provide the holiday meal to it’s clients.
“While we’re humbled to be able to provide these services to so many people, and very grateful to our funders and many donors, we’re also worried about our ability to meet the needs of ever-increasing numbers of people who turn to us for help,” Tilley said. “We need governments at every level to recognize the severity of homelessness and related conditions such as food insecurity in our community.”
