Whether you live in a city, town, village, resort village, or northern municipality, chances are you’ve noticed a greater need for mental health, addictions and housing resources and services in your community. Unfortunately, the current level of funding available does not match the province-wide need. SUMA is calling on the next provincial government to take greater responsibility for social services, housing, and shelters by allocating more funding and resources to both preventative and recovery-oriented care surrounding drug, alcohol, addictions, mental health and housing-related issues.
Municipalities are the order of government closest to the people, and have a front-row seat for the challenges experienced in communities, but they are not fiscally or legally responsible for social services, housing and shelters; this responsibility falls to the province. However, over the years, municipalities have found themselves stepping in more and more to provide resources and relieve the stress their communities feel because other orders of government are not doing enough to prevent these issues. SUMA wants to see this downloading of responsibilities stopped, and instead for future governments to implement changes that will meet both current and projected needs.
Read the entire release below.
