Some very alarming statistics have been released shedding some light on the seriousness of the homeless problem in the Kenora district.
The Services Board conducted a study in each community it serves and found that 393-people admitted to being without a home.
Chief Administrative Officer Henry Wall stresses these are rough numbers, warning the figures are likely much higher.
Wall notes the study doesn’t identify the transient population or those living in homes with no heat, hydro or water.
Sioux Lookout Mayor Doug Lawrance agrees, indicating the number is likely higher with a high volume of people travelling to and from Indigenous communities without a permanent place to stay.
Wall stresses that they have to immediately sit down with community partners as well as municipal, provincial, federal and Indigenous leaders to get ahead of the crisis.
Wall says they always knew there was a problem in certain communities, but he’s concerned with the results in Dryden.
He says this figure should be an eye opener for everyone in Dryden and must be addressed right away.
67-people were self-identified as being homeless in the study.
KDSB Chair Barry Baltessen says they have done the initial work by collecting the data and it’s incumbent on all of us all now to do something about it.
Baltessen says everyone at the table must be held accountable.
Of the 393-individuals who said they were homeless; 273-people said they suffer from addictions, while 215-admitted to be struggling with a mental health illness.
184 individuals indicated that at some point they had been living in foster care.
Here are the homeless numbers for the Kenora district:
Kenora: 223
Dryden: 67
Sioux Lookout: 66
Red Lake: 19
Pickle Lake: 11
Ignace: 5
Lac Seul Unincorporated: 1
Vermilion Bay: 1
To hear more, visit the Audio link below.
