Two days after the 2026 federal budget was tabled, St. John’s East MP and Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson visited her home riding to promote the ambitious plan to end homelessness across Canada within a decade.
The nearly $30-billion initiative follows three pillars, according to Thompson: help, health and housing.
That includes $5.5 billion earmarked to renew the Canada Housing Benefit, $10 billion to build about 25,000 homes and $5 billion for a new Integrated Supports Fund to develop facilities offering wraparound support — among other pools of funding.
“We can do this, but we have to come together now,” Thompson told reporters following an event at Saint Luke’s Community Living in St. John’s on Saturday.
As a former executive director of The Gathering Place, Thompson said she’s seen first hand what it takes to help get people out of the cycle of homelessness, addiction and other socioeconomic problems.
She said health care must be closely woven into solutions and strategies around homelessness.
“There are too many people across the country, and certainly in our province of Newfoundland and Labrador, … without the comprehensive integrated support to really begin to move forward and claim independence and control of their lives again,” Thompson said.
The mission — and the money — is clear, but Thompson said it’s now up to the different levels of government to work together and decide exactly what that looks like.
Model already in place, says advocate
Doug Pawson, executive director of End Homelessness St. John’s (EHSJ), has ideas.
“I might be optimistic and naive, but I absolutely think here in St. John’s, we could do it.” he said.
Doug Pawson is the executive director of End Homelessness St. John’s. He thinks homelessness can be solved, at least in the city, if the provincial government signs on to an integrated solution. (Mark Cumby/CBC)
EHSJ operates the transitional housing facility Horizons at 106, in a building leased by the former Liberal provincial government. Beyond beds, the building houses a health clinic and staff offering social support around the clock.
But Horizons is closing at the end of this year due to operating cost concerns, with replacements already chosen by the current PC government.
The province awarded contracts to non-profit Stella’s Circle and Bensaid Services, an organization that runs both non-profit and for-profit shelters, to house 45 people. The province is still looking for 30 more living spaces.
At the time of publishing, 542 people in N.L.’s capital city are homeless according to EHSJ’s data. Pawson said the 10-year plan within the new federal budget is a vote of confidence for the model his organization built.
“I think it’s validation,” Pawson said in an interview with CBC News Saturday afternoon. “We have a community plan to end homelessness, but it does hinge on the province coming to the table and working together.”
CBC News has asked the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation how it plans to work with the federal government in its efforts to end homelessness within the next 10 years.
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