Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson says he's optimistic that Ottawa will get what he calls its "fair share" of federal funding for emergency housing.
Watson met the Federation of Canadian Municipalities ‘Big City Mayors’ caucus today with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the last time before the 2019 federal election.
Top of mind for Watson, he said, is federal funding to relieve some of the pressure on the city’s emergency housing system.
“It's probably one of the biggest challenges we are facing,” Watson told reporters after Monday morning's meeting with the Prime Minister.
Watson is asking the federal government for $11 million to ease the burden on the city’s emergency housing system that, he said, was caused by an influx of asylum seekers coming from the United States.
This is the same amount that was given to Toronto last summer, after Mayor John Tory made a plea for funding relief.
Ottawa has had to absorb $5.7 million in additional housing costs since 2017. The city is expected to take a hit of roughly $6.2 million in 2018.
Yet, Watson said the city has received “nothing” from the federal government.
Watson’s comments come after he made another play for federal funding last month. In a December letter first reported by 580 CFRA, Watson tells Jean-Yves Duclos, the federal minister of family services, that the emergency housing system is being pushed to the breaking point.
“The City of Ottawa is unable to meet the demands of vulnerable families in our community for safe, adequate emergency shelter services,” the letter, signed by Watson, reads.
Watson wrote in the letter that shelter staff have been “turning families away” because of the increased demand - forcing families to live in cars and churches across the city.
So far, 250 families are being housed in motels across the city.
The city has received 584 emergency housing placement requests from asylum seekers coming from the United States as of November 30 of last year. The majority of these requests are coming from families.
However, Watson refused to call the situation a “crisis” - instead pushing all three levels of government to work together towards a common solution.
Watson said he will be meeting with Bill Blair, the federal minister of border security and organized crime, on Wednesday to continue the push for funding.
The mayors also asked the federal government for a seat at the table. Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson, the chair for the FCM, wants money for a new intergovernmental forum to be included in the upcoming 2019 federal budget.
The new forum, Iveson continued, would tackle “Canada’s biggest challenges” including housing, the opiod crisis, and transit expansion.