Demands of the City of Barrie and the County of Simcoe

This list of demands is created as a list we can hold the City of Barrie and County of Simcoe accountable to. We know that some work is being done already. We want to hear from the City of Barrie what is being done, and we want their support to require the same level of accountability from the County.

1. City of Barrie to pause enforcement of the “no camping” by-law in cases where individuals have set up alternate housing in the form of tents or other structures as a survival response to the lack of affordable housing options.  
2. Barrie Fire to distribute fire safety supplies and provide fire safety training as needed in encampments. 
3. City of Barrie to issue an inclement weather alert when necessary and City of Barrie/County of Simcoe to fund/open inclement weather sites during alerts.
4. City of Barrie to work progressively toward 24/7/365 public washroom and drinking  water access. 
5. County of Simcoe to conduct an external audit of all funded homelessness services and supports, including shelter providers, with input from people with lived/living  experience and/or shelter users. 
6. County of Simcoe to use the results of the audit to review and update the Emergency Shelter Standards from 2003, to include harm reduction measures as the standard  within the shelter system, and in consultation with shelter providers, shelter users, and  other community homelessness and housing stakeholders, and conduct ongoing  external audits as needed to ensure standards are being met. 
7. County of Simcoe to immediately increase rent supplements, rent-geared-to-income, and affordable housing options, and fast-track an overhaul of rent supplement and Housing Retention Fund process, so applicants get proof of entitlement to a specific amount before they start their housing search. 
8. County of Simcoe to identify partners and funding to develop and implement a street health program.

​Download the PDF of Who We Are, Background, Our Demands, and Our Demands in More Detail here.
​Media Release - September 19, 2022

Updates (July 2023)

Several steps have been taken to address the issues outlined in our 8 demands in the last 10 months:

• In November 2022, the County of Simcoe began a Homeless System Review, resulting in a report with 40 recommendations released in April 2023. Here are the staff report, consultant report, and list of recommendations. (Demand 5)
• In April 2023, the province of Ontario also increased Simcoe County's Homelessness Prevention Program (HPP) funding by $9.6M, giving County staff additional funds to use to implement the recommendations.  
• In June 2023, the County of Simcoe released a Homelessness Prevention Strategy 10-point plan with a focus on outcomes-based programs, increasing supportive housing options, increasing rent subsidy amounts, and enhancing shelter standards. (Demand 6,7)
• As part of the City of Barrie May 17, 2023 motion regarding homelessness services, supports, and bylaws, $825,000 was allocated each year for two years to, among other things, support both warming and cooling centres. An RFP for a cooling centre went out in June 2023, with Gilbert Centre being awarded funding to expand their drop-in program to a daytime cooling centre for the rest of summer 2023. The intention is also to having a warming centre in place before fall. These centres are not contingent on specific temperatures, operating every day. (Demand 3)