Media advisory – Federal Housing Advocate to visit Southern Ontario to monitor encampment responses

OTTAWA, ON, Sept. 19, 2025 /CNW/ – The Federal Housing Advocate, Marie-Josée Houle, will be in Southern Ontario from September 22–26, 2025, to visit homeless encampments, meet with people with lived experience and service providers, and engage with municipal and provincial decision-makers.

The visit will include stops in Kitchener, Cambridge, London, Hamilton, and Toronto.

This visit follows her February 2024 report on homeless encampments, which sparked national attention. The federal government’s initial response to the Advocate’s report and recommendations included a new investment of $250M in the 2024 budget to be matched by provinces, territories, and municipalities for human rights-based solutions to encampments.

This funding for Community Encampment Response Plans has started rolling out to Canadian cities under the Unsheltered Homelessness and Encampments Initiative. The Advocate’s visit will help her to evaluate how this funding is making a difference in the communities she visits.

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SOURCE Office of the Federal Housing Advocate