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RELEASE DATE:
February 2, 2026
The County of Renfrew is highlighting new data released by the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) on homelessness in Ontario. As predicted in AMO’s groundbreaking work in 2025, without meaningful and collective intervention, the crisis continues to grow.
Nearly 85,000 Ontarians experienced homelessness in 2025, up eight per cent from 2024. The figure also represents a 50 per cent increase since 2021. Without significant intervention, homelessness in Ontario could double by 2035, and reach nearly 300,000 people in an economic downturn.
Homelessness continues to grow the fastest in rural and northern communities. Rural homelessness was up by more than 30 per cent last year. In Northern Ontario, it grew by more than 37 per cent over the last year.
While dedicated investments and actions have dealt with several large urban encampments, there are small and dispersed encampments across Ontario – nearly 2,000 were reported in 2025 compared to 1,400 in 2024.
The update was conducted by HelpSeeker Technologies, in partnership with AMO, the Ontario Municipal Social Services Association (OMSSA) and the Northern Ontario Service Deliverers Association (NOSDA).
Locally, the County of Renfrew continues to see growing housing instability and increasing complexity among individuals and families seeking support. The community housing waitlist now exceeds 2,000 households, and demand for homelessness prevention services, emergency supports, and outreach continues to rise. In January 2026 the County recorded 46 people in our By-Name Data who identified as being chronically homeless (homeless for a period of six months or more), a notable increase compared to January 2025 where the County recorded 27 people in our By-Name Data who identified as being chronically homeless.
Through initiatives such as the Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment Hub (HART Hub), which provides coordinated access to health, social, and housing supports, and the Mesa Outreach Team, which works directly in the community to engage individuals experiencing homelessness or housing precarity, the County is taking proactive steps to support residents and prevent homelessness where possible. While progress has been made through these collaborative approaches, we can’t solve the problem alone.
The crisis stems from decades of underinvestment in deeply affordable housing, income support and mental health and addictions treatment, combined with escalating economic pressures on communities.
Ontario is the only province where responsibility for social housing has been downloaded to municipalities. Municipal investment in housing and homelessness programs has grown significantly in recent years, totalling $2 billion in 2025.
The County of Renfrew joins AMO in urging provincial and federal governments to take significant, long-term action on affordable housing, mental health and addictions services, and income supports to fix homelessness and improve local economies and quality of life for all Ontarians.
AMO’s recommendations
As per AMO’s 2025 report, Ontario needs a fundamentally new approach that focuses on long-term housing solutions over temporary emergency measures and enforcement:
- To address chronic homelessness, an additional $11 billion over 10 years would focus on capital investments to develop more than 75,000 new affordable and supportive housing units, as well as increased funding on prevention efforts.
- To ensure that current encampment residents are quickly and appropriately housed, Ontario needs to invest an additional $2 billion over eight years.
AMO further recommends:
- Continued federal funding through the National Housing Strategy to maintain critical programs like the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit.
- Collaboration amongst all orders of Government to ensure our homelessness and housing dollars are having the biggest impact, including coordinating data and outcomes across programs, connecting services, and tracking every dollar from investment to impact.
The full report and backgrounder provide a detailed analysis and actionable solutions for governments and stakeholders.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Craig Kelley Chief Administrative Officer 613-735-7288
Tina Peplinskie Media Relations Coordinator 613-735-7288
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