‘Exciting opportunity’ ahead for ministers to tackle mental health, homelessness: expert

Housing Minister Ahmed Hussen said that he and Mental Health and Addictions Minister Carolyn Bennett "will be very closely aligned.''

There is an “exciting opportunity” for the new housing minister and mental health and addictions minister to work together at the intersection of homelessness and mental health, says an expert.

Dr. Mary Bartram, director of policy and substance use at the Mental Health Commission of Canada, said that while the two ministries working together could be powerful, the government needs to back them with funding.

“Absolutely, the opportunity of those new ministries is only as strong as the resources that follow in behind them,” she said.

Bartram said there are two steps the government can take to begin addressing the problems discovered in her organization’s research: one immediate and the other longer-term.

The first immediate step, she said, can be done before next year’s federal budget is created.

As Canadians head into the winter season, Bartram said focus could be placed on supports like emergency relief for those experiencing homelessness, and income supports for the homelessness service sector workforce.

“Now’s the time to be looking at those and getting those going,” she said.

Longer-term, she said that federally announced initiatives like increasing housing stock, a substance use strategy and mental health strategy sound good if they are intertwined.