Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath wants $9M from Ottawa to help refugees facing homelessness

Hamilton's mayor is asking the federal government for roughly $9 million to address an "alarming rise" of refugee and asylum seekers ending up in the shelter system or living on the streets.

Andrea Horwath sent a letter to Sean Fraser, Canada's minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship, on Tuesday, outlining what Hamilton is seeing and how $9 million would help.

She said the city's emergency shelter system has housed 509 people with refugee and asylum seeker status since January and 202 in the last week alone.

One in five shelter beds are occupied by refugees and asylum seekers, she said.

"The exponential influx of asylum seekers is placing our emergency response systems at the risk of collapse," reads the letter posted to social media.

"These individuals and families cannot continue to suffer while federal and provincial governments fight to avoid responsibility for their care."

Half of the $9 million would be a reimbursement for costs the shelter system has already incurred and the other half would cover the rest of the year.

Horwath also wants:

• A streamlined program to provide funding to municipalities to house and support refugees and asylum seekers.
• A federally funded reception centre for refugee claimants at Pearson International Airport, an ask made by Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow.
• Proactive and sustained housing funding to cities that matches projected impacts of national refugee and immigration policies.

Nearby cities have wrestled with similar issues.

Toronto shelters, which were at capacity, were turning away refugees and asylum seekers since the beginning of June and referring them to federal programs, are now taking them in and made 150 shelter beds available.

Chow and Ontario Premier Doug Ford met and said their respective governments are pledging millions to help house refugee claimants who have nowhere else to go. But they also said the federal government needs to do more to establish long-term solutions for the situation.

Feds say province and cities are responsible

Bahoz Dara Aziz, press secretary for the federal Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, said in an email housing and supports for asylum seekers are "the responsibility of provinces and municipalities."

"We need full engagement from all levels of government as we work to ensure asylum seekers have a roof over their heads," she said.

Dara Aziz said the federal government announced $212 million on July 18 to help house asylum seekers, adding to the almost $700 million in funding already provided.

She said their work permit applications are also expedited and they're eligible for a year's worth of income support, as well as other services.

Dara Aziz added the ministry has worked with the "most impacted provinces and municipalities to provide temporary housing" which has led to lodging asylum claimants into over 3,800 hotel rooms across six provinces.

She said the feds have invested $427 million into Hamilton for housing.

Asylum seeker applications in Canada soar

Canada processed almost 60,000 applications from asylum seekers looking to take refuge here so far this year.

It's the highest count in almost a decade, but only two per cent of asylum claims globally.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 108.4 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced by the end of 2022, with almost a third of them considered refugees.

Experts previously told CBC the increase in Canada is linked to one central theme: as the number of global conflicts and crises rise, so will the number of people seeking asylum — not just in Canada, but anywhere they can find it.

They also said the increase in refugees could be useful to Canada, given its need for workers and plan to accept 500,000 new permanent residents by 2025.

Newcomer advocate supports mayor's call for help

Terri Bedminster, executive director of the Hamilton Centre for Newcomer Health, said she supports Horwath's request to the federal government.

"It's a good read on what we need," she said in a phone interview on Wednesday.

"I think more is due to Hamilton ... Hamilton has been holding the bag for a long time."

Bedminster said the current shelter system is functioning "way above capacity," and the way things are for refugees and asylum seekers right now is akin to "inviting someone to dinner and not having food to them."

"When we support refugees in coming to our country, we need to think of what they need to do well," she said.

"We need to do better on all levels."