(Toronto, August 17, 2026) – The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Ontario, Addictions and Mental Health Ontario (AMHO) and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) recognize the extraordinary pressure municipal leaders are facing as homelessness, encampments and complex mental health and addictions needs continue to rise across Ontario.
The scale of the challenge is immense. There are more than 1,400 encampments across the province and close to 85,000 Ontarians experienced known homelessness in 2025, a nearly 50 per cent increase since 2021. In Northern Ontario, homelessness has more than doubled during that time, rising 117 per cent. Northern communities represent approximately five per cent of Ontario’s population but now account for nearly 10 per cent of the province’s known homelessness.
At the same time, more than one million Ontarians experience a mental health or addictions challenge requiring care each year, and the need for addictions services remains substantial. On average more than four people die a day from opioids, largely due to the toxic unregulated drug supply.
“We recognize how hard municipal leaders work to support individuals experiencing homelessness, mental health and addictions issues,” said Camille Quenneville, CEO, CMHA Ontario. “We understand the pressure they face and have tremendous empathy as they address concerns from residents and local businesses. But this is a complex problem that has developed over many years. It will not be solved by a single intervention but requires coordinated response from all three levels of government.”
Recent provincial investments to shore up the community mental health and addictions sector, build Homelessness and Addictions Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs and provide municipalities additional funding to address homelessness has been welcome.
OBCM has acknowledged these key provincial investments but is urging the government to invest more heavily to ensure voluntary mental health and addictions supports are available when and where people need it.
However, with all these realities in mind, CMHA Ontario, AMHO and CAMH are urging caution regarding OBCM’s recommendation to amend legislation to expand the scope of involuntary treatment programs in Ontario.
“There is an urgent need to help people struggling with chronic homelessness, mental health and addictions, but we need to focus on solutions that work,” said Jennifer Holmes Weier, CEO of AMHO. “Before expanding mandatory treatment, we need to make sure timely, voluntary care is available in every community to people who are already asking for help. That is how we make crisis rare. It means reducing wait times, expanding supportive housing and ensuring people can access the right care when they need it.”
“As we continue to see the devastating impact of the drug toxicity crisis, it is understandable that municipal leaders are considering new approaches. But before we consider expanding the scope of mandatory treatment programs, we must first ensure that those who want help can access timely, high-quality voluntary care,” said Dr. Leslie Buckley, Chief of the Addictions Division at CAMH. “Ontario already has legal tools for mandatory treatment in certain circumstances, but they are not consistently used. We should first strengthen voluntary care and address barriers to using existing tools. Any decision to expand mandatory treatment could have significant clinical, ethical and safety implications.”
Importantly, evidence does not suggest involuntary treatment is effective, let alone more effective than voluntary treatment. In fact, evidence indicates that involuntary treatment may create further potential harms to individuals, including a higher risk of overdose upon discharge, and reduced motivation to participate in mental health and addictions services going forward.
With average wait times of 61 days for adult bed-based addictions treatment and 124 days for community-based addictions treatment in Ontario, there are thousands of people ready to voluntarily seek care every year, but services need to be available when and where people need them.
CMHA Ontario, AMHO and CAMH welcome the opportunity to work with municipal leaders, the provincial and federal governments and people with lived experience on practical solutions to homelessness for people living with mental illness and/or addictions.
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Media contacts:
Elham Bidgoli, Communications Director
Canadian Mental Health Association, Ontario
ebidgoli@ontario.cmha.ca
David Turnbull, Director of Public Affairs and Communications
Addictions and Mental Health Ontario
David.turnbull@amho.ca
Anne-Marie Tremble, Senior Communications Advisor, Media & External Comms Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Anne-marie.Tremble@camh.ca