The Mayor's Roundtable report was triggered by the increasing visibility of homeless people on downtown streets and other drug-related issues, and that the status quo approach was not working.
BayToday has obtained a copy of the report.
To read the full roundtable report click here
In Sept. of last year, 29 experts from various local organizations gathered to come up with a plan to attack the problem, and from that group, an action team was created.
See: Mayor’s Roundtable brings a sense of hope
Part of that plan included re-allocation of money from existing programs and the establishment of a community hub with up to 56 beds which would include a mixture of withdrawal management beds, safe beds. low barrier crisis beds, transitional beds, and overnight beds.
"In the summer of 2019 there was a notable increase of visible homelessness in the City of North Bay," says the report. "A significant number of individuals were seeking shelter outside of commercial buildings in the city's downtown, as well as several tent cities appeared on vacant lots and conservation lands. The visible increase in homelessness raised concerns among the municipality and community partners who serve vulnerable and marginalized populations."
The report highlights three main priorities:
- need for increased addictions programming, especially withdrawal management services
- need for additional short term transitional housing options
- access to 24/7 support for mental health and addiction outside of a hospital emergency room setting.
The report points out that North Bay police get almost 30,000 calls a year of which 20 per cent are primarily for mental health and addictions.
In less than eight weeks an 18 bed warming centre was implemented,
But while the report is a comprehensive look at the city's homeless and addiction problems with proposed solutions, it has been dogged by missteps and controversy.
It stumbled out of the gate when a homeless woman was refused a chance to address the group to give a real-world view of the problem, then the media were barred from covering any of the discussions.
See: Homeless woman to the mayor: The problem can't be fixed!
Mayor Al McDonald has come under fire from the Ontario Health Coalition for not releasing the report to the public in a timely manner and for perceived conflicts of interests with committee members,
See: Mayor's roundtable target of conflict of interest allegations
BayToday reached out to Mary Davis, Executive Director of Nipissing Mental Health Housing & Support Services and co-chair of the committee last Thursday but received no response.
