TRILLIUM TALK: How dire is the homeless crisis in Ontario? New stats shed some light

Welcome back to Trillium Talk, your must-see briefing from Village Media’s team of journalists at the Ontario Legislature. 

Every Sunday, Scott Sexsmith sits down with one of our staffers at The Trillium to talk about the week that was at Queen's Park — and the week ahead.

On the show today is reporter Jack Hauen, who will be in Ottawa this week for the annual conference of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO). The big item on this year's agenda is homelessness, a challenge that continues to get worse in communities across the province.

As The Trillium exclusively reported this week, the province now puts the "unofficial estimate" of Ontario's homeless population at a staggering 234,000 people. A separate report prepared by AMO tallied at least 1,400 homeless encampments across Ontario.

As Hauen reported, big city mayors are calling for more leadership from the Ford government on mental health, addictions and homelessness — including a single point of contact and more stable funding.

Hauen also discusses another big issue that made headlines this week: the province's plan to charge child-cares centres located in government buildings "full market-rate rents" starting next year. For some operators, it could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in increased costs.

You can read the full story HERE.

Looking for back episodes of Trillium Talk? You can find them all HERE.

Launched last year by Village Media, which operates this community website, The Trillium is a comprehensive news and information source devoted exclusively to insider coverage of Ontario politics.

Passionate and plugged in, The Trillium delivers the major political headlines of the day while unpacking complex policy changes and digging deeper into key issues that impact every Ontarian. Our dogged journalists also keep a close watch on legislative debates, question period, public appointments, lobbying activity and regulatory proposals.

The Trillium is a subscription-based news service designed especially for Queen’s Park stakeholders, such as public servants, political staffers, business leaders, lobbyists and strategists. But the site also features free content that is regularly published across our chain of local news sites.

Click HERE to sign up for the site's free afternoon email newsletter, The Trillium Wrap. Subscription information can be found HERE.