GUELPH – The County of Wellington is planning a health and housing symposium early next year that will touch on issues around mental health, addiction and homelessness.
Slated for late January, the event will bring county and city officials together with mental health professionals and support service providers and “anybody that helps us with dealing with mental health and addiction and homelessness,” explained county councillor Dave Anderson at the Nov. 30 council meeting.
“We’re going to put a lot of brains together, look at policies, look at what gaps there are in policies and … how we can address those gaps,” said Anderson, who chairs the county’s social services committee.
Anderson illustrated some of the frustrations experienced in dealing with the region’s growing number of persons experiencing homelessness by telling councillors about a call he took from a woman whose son is currently homeless in Guelph.
“He was a fully employed individual two years ago. He had lived in an apartment,” said Anderson.
“The problem is, he was dealing with mental health and addiction and through this he lost his job, he lost his apartment and now he’s on the streets.”
He noted the man had been in and out of hospitals and at one point picked up by the police before ending up in a three-week stay at Homewood Health Centre, where he received help with his addiction issues.
“He was doing better. He was actually increasing his ability to deal with society,” said Anderson.
However, when he applied for a housing program through the county’s social services department, he had to join others on a waiting list.
“There’s no room for him … So where he had achieved three weeks of getting better, he’s now back on the streets again,” said Anderson.
“The deeper I find myself getting into this topic around housing and homelessness, the more complex I am realizing this problem is. This is such a huge problem and it’s growing in our communities,” said Warden Andy Lennox, who notes county officials and staff often hear appeals for help.
“Unfortunately, our staff work really hard to try to solve problems that we can with the limited scope that we have.
“But it’s a much bigger problem, much broader problem than just the services that we are able to deliver, with the mandate that we have.”
Lennox continued, “I think the symposium is a great step towards this; pulling resources together that are going to be needed to make this better for those people who are most seriously affected.
“This is not just … a municipal issue. This affects everybody and everybody needs to be a part of the solution, right from our federal government right down to the individual citizens,” the warden stated.
“The complexity of it makes it hard for people to understand. It makes it harder to figure out what the solutions may be. But I think … we as elected officials need to be very engaged in this because I think this is a problem that’s developing, going to get worse and we have a role to play,” he explained.
Luisa Artuso, the county’s social services administrator, said the symposium, being led by the County of Wellington’s Social Services department, will focus on the wellbeing of youth, adults and families living in the City of Guelph and the County of Wellington.
“Given the complexity and magnitude of health and housing challenges in Wellington-Guelph, the department has consulted with a wide range of community partners and resources to help inform their preliminary planning process,” Artuso told the Advertiser.
She said planning for the event continues and more information will be available once details have been finalized.
