'Disheartening' trend sees more families, seniors reach out for homelessness supports

One of London's homelessness response services says it's been tracking an alarming trend over the past few months: the number of new people experiencing homelessness increasing rapidly, including more seniors and families with children.

London Cares serves people experiencing chronic homelessness in the city, and runs a number of highly supportive housing units in London.

"We were chatting in our all staff meeting just earlier this week and we were surprised by some of the data that we were seeing," said Lierka Vandepoele, the outreach manager at London Cares.

Numbers shared by London Cares say the people accessing their services who say they're newly homeless rose from 14 in February to 54 in April.

The number of families reporting being homeless for the first time rose from 10 to 26 over the same time frame.

Rising homelessness has been a concern across Ontario, and the whole of Canada for a number of years, with a report from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario released at the beginning of the year estimating more than 80,000 people were homeless in 2024.

The issue has been plain to see in London, where the issue of homelessness has been front-and-centre in not only every day life, but also municipal politics.

Vandepoele said the broad spectrum of different types of people seeking London Cares's services shows the depth of the problem.

"Mothers with children, dads with children, people with pets who have nowhere to go," she said. "We also have a lot of elderly individuals facing homelessness for the first time. It really does show us that anyone could experience homelessness at any time in our community, not just people who are addicted to substances or who have complex mental health."

As a result of these increases, Vandepoele said, the number of people accessing support for basic needs has risen too, from 740 in February to 1087 in April.

LISTEN | Sharp increase in new people seeking homelessness supports in London

The increase has lead London Cares to rely more on working with partners like churches and other shelters, and accessing community resources.

"There's a lot of pressure and politics happening right now within our system. Resources are scarce, navigating how we support an individual when all of the shelters are full," Vandepoele said.

She said the root of the issue is multifaceted, but often comes down to an inflated cost of living.

Looking to the future, Vandepoele said, she hopes to see members of the community and politicians continue to advocate for supporting the unhoused. She would especially like to see more supportive housing, which is designed with supports for mental health and addictions built-in.

"I know that housing is the right way forward, and I know that highly supportive housing is the right pathway to help support individuals who have been chronically homeless for, sometimes, as long as a decade," she said.

"I know this is the the right pathway forward, and I have a ton of hope in that."