Barrie business community teaming up with Ontario mayors to address homelessness

The Barrie Chamber of Commerce office on Mon. Aug. 12, 2024 (Dana Roberts/CTV News Barrie).

Business leaders in Barrie are teaming up with municipal leaders from across Ontario to address a growing province-wide issue.

On Aug. 8, the Ontario Big City Mayors Caucus (OBCM), a group that represents municipal leaders from the province's largest cities, launched the 'Solve the Crisis' campaign. The campaign aims to address the growing number of homeless individuals and their broader implications for communities.

Early Monday Morning, the Barrie Chamber of Commerce publicly endorsed the campaign, which calls on increased support from the province, lending its support to its overall goal. OBCM says mayors have done what they can, and it is now up to the province to do more.

"I think businesses are finding, you know, the entire situation very frustrating," said Paul Markle, the executive director of the Barrie Chamber of Commerce. "Cities like Barrie, which is a little unique in that our social services are actually provided by the county, leaves the mayor and the council, you know, in a difficult position because they don't necessarily have all of the funding, the resources they need to be able to tackle the problem."

Through the campaign, OBCM hopes to pressure the province to get involved in this issue more deeply. While the group acknowledges that the province has taken actions, including Ontario's Roadmap to Wellness and creating a Homelessness Prevention Program, they hope for increased action.

Amongst their top calls is for a new ministry to be created focused on addressing housing and the implications and effects felt by those who find themselves homeless, including providing necessary support services.

"The Barrie chamber and the chambers in general, we're not experts," Markle admits. "What we are is a catalyst for the community to pull together the right resources, the people that have the expertise to start finding cohesive solutions."

Markle says the business community argues that social issues are business issues. He says that the impacts of homelessness and an ongoing opioid crisis on businesses are vast, including reducing counter sales downtown and limiting the number of visitors who may want to spend time in the downtown core.

In terms of Barrie's unique situation compared to many other cities, as the county is responsible for social services, Markle hopes this campaign by the OBCM could lead to the province making changes to the Municipal Act of Ontario.

He says the Barrie Chamber of Commerce is working with upwards of 20 other local chambers in Ontario to form a working group to address many of these challenges.

"It's early days, but the work that we're doing [like] looking at what other jurisdictions are finding successful is making an impact, and the Ontario Chamber has picked up on that," Markle says. "The call from the OBCM is important because it indicates that they're listening."