in Chatsworth, Grey Highlands, Southgate, West Grey
March 14, 2025
BY JOHN BUTLER — Grey Highlands councillor Nadia Dubyk credits her mother for teaching her to care about others. “When I was a child, I witnessed my mother giving money to people who were homeless, even though we weren’t a well-off family,” says Nadia. “When I asked her why she did this, my mother said, ‘I know what it’s like to be hungry.’” Nadia grew up in Toronto in a Ukrainian-Canadian family, and her mother lived through the Holodomor in Ukraine — the mass starvation of Ukrainians in 1932 and 1933 as a result of Soviet economic policies.
Nadia, serving her first term as a Grey Highlands municipal councillor, harked back to that long-ago lesson from her mother when, last autumn, fifteen Ontario mayors called on Premier Doug Ford to use the Canadian constitution’s Notwithstanding Clause to give them extraordinary powers to clear encampments of homeless people in their communities.
Nadia wasn’t the only councillor concerned about this looming violation of the rights of homeless people. 80 councillors across the province, including Nadia, banded together to protest this request from mayors. Their protest worked — at least for now: the Ontario government has backed down on the use of the Notwithstanding Clause to remove encampments.
But Nadia and her like-minded colleagues across Ontario knew this temporary victory wasn’t enough. They banded together with others concerned about the plight of people who are homeless to establish the Ontario Coalition for the Rights of Homeless People. Its website is at homelessrights.ca. Nadia is one of eleven councillors from across Ontario who serve on the Coalition’s Steering Committee, to ensure it delivers on its mission to make sure the Ontario government rejects the use the notwithstanding clause against encampments, embraces a housing-first approach, and respects the human rights of homeless Ontarians. Respect for these rights includes access to reasonable and supportive alternatives to encampments.
Nadia points out that the 'housing first' approach turns on its head, the outdated approach that says people must have all their other problems fully under control before they qualify for housing. There is ample evidence that when people are well housed, it’s easier for them to address other challenges they face.
Homelessness may not be readily visible in rural and small-town municipalities like those in South Grey, says Nadia, but the problem exists here. People living in their cars, or who 'couch surf' from friend to friend, often try to live their lives in ways that mask their lack of housing. As well, she says, some homeless people from rural areas relocate to larger centres like Owen Sound to make use of support services. But just because they are out of sight doesn’t mean they should be out of mind in their home communities, says Nadia.
She also points out that municipal action is being taken at the level of the province as well as Grey County to address homelessness. In January the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) released a comprehensive study revealing the unprecedented and growing toll of homelessness on individuals, families, communities, and governments. It outlines the risk of inaction and suggests solutions According to the study Municipalities Under Pressure: The Human and Financial Cost of Ontario's Homelessness Crisis, more than 80,000 Ontarians were known to be homeless in 2024, a number that has grown by about 25% since 2022. Without significant intervention, homelessness in Ontario could double in the next decade, and reach nearly 300,000 people in an economic downturn.
In response to the AMO report, Grey County in January announced that Grey is experiencing similar trends to other rural communities across Ontario. In 2024, Grey County identified 375 people experiencing homelessness. Of these:
Grey County provides subsidized housing and maintains a housing waitlist that grew from 1,517 in 2022 to 2,230 in 2024. The County took a major step in providing expanded short-term housing by acquiring a 22-room former motel, the Diamond Inn, in Owen Sound in February 2024. This has allowed for reduced operating costs, improved access to staff and supports on site and a higher level of dignity for community members experiencing homelessness.
Said Grey County in its January media release:
“Ontario’s homelessness crisis is significant, but it is not unresolvable. The AMO report determines an investment of $11 billion over 10 years is what is needed to achieve a functional zero level of chronic homelessness in the province. With the right investments and continued collaboration, the province can build a system that ensures every Ontarian has a place to call home, strengthening the resilience and well-being of communities for generations to come.”
Nadia points out that there are misconceptions to be overcome in ending homelessness. Prime among these misconceptions is the belief that homelessness is a personal failure — something people bring on themselves. She asserts that system failures in fields beyond housing — failures of economic and social support systems, for instance — are what often propel people from their homes into their streets, parks and scrublands. Blaming people for their vulnerability robs them of their inherent dignity, she says.
What can municipalities and other levels of government do to contribute to solving the problem of homelessness? Adoption of the 'Housing First' approach in a coordinated way by all levels of government is a good start, says Nadia, coupled with action at the level of policy development as well as funding decisions. And it’s important, she says, to dispel the myth that investment in 'Housing First' is a cost centre without matching gains: it has been demonstrated repeatedly that investment in housing reaps benefits — and cost savings — further down the line.
What can a resident of South Grey do if they want to contribute to solving the problem of homelessness? First, see it through a political lens, says Nadia. She suggests that during elections, citizens should examine political platforms and promises to see if they address homelessness — and asking questions and putting forth suggestions at candidates’ meetings make a difference. She points out that between elections, continued advocacy on behalf of homeless people, and helping their voices to be heard, will keep up the pressure. Joining groups such as the Ontario Coalition for the Rights of Homeless People (it’s free, through its website) helps build the critical mass necessary to encourage change.
Nadia also suggests that citizens adopt a community participative lens — "get involved," she says, "in contributing time, money and energy to community assets that help end homelessness and help people while they are experiencing homelessness." The community lens also involves discovering what other communities — or whole nations — have done to tackle homelessness. Nadia cites Finland as a nation that has dealt well with homelessness — its strategies have reduced the number who are homeless from 16,000 in Finland in 1987 to fewer than 4,000 people in 2020.
In applying these lenses and approaches, Nadia encourages us to see and to listen. Homelessness can be invisible if we choose not to see it around us, and we rob homeless people of their dignity and rights if we don’t listen to what they have to say about the barriers and potential of their lives.
And it’s important to see and listen to what centres of power like Grey County have already done. Nadia points, for instance, to the County’s Emergency Housing Initiative, as well as the Supportive Outreach Service (S.O.S.) provided through Canadian Mental Health Association Grey Bruce. These resources are foundations on which to build.
Nadia has moved beyond her original Toronto roots. She now resides on a working farm near Rocklyn with her husband, she has amassed an impressive list of volunteer community roles in and beyond the Beaver Valley, she tends to her constituency work as a Grey Highlands councillor, and she represents Grey Highlands on several socio-economic and rural committees of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.
And she remains the daughter of a Ukrainian immigrant mother who drew on her own suffering to inspire service in her daughter.
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