Sudbury's hidden homeless
Pay the rent or eat? When you can't do both.
A tent hidden far up in the hills
How many homeless are there in Greater Sudbury? The official count gives one number but the actual figures are far greater than the number that the city uses.
By-Name list
Officially, as of 23 August 2024, there were 273 homeless in Great Sudbury. That is the number of homeless that were recorded on the By–Name List.
The numbers are:
69 sleeping in tents
88 sleeping rough on the streets
55 sleeping in the city emergency shelters
61 sleeping provisionally/unknown
186 Total
290% difference
The By-Name List states that there are 69 homeless sleeping outdoors in tents or structures. However, the city acknowledges that there are approximately 200 homeless sleeping in tents, almost three times more than the number that is recorded on the official By–Name List.
Are the other homeless categories equally undercounted? Most likely.
Using 200 as the number sleeping in tents instead of 69, the number of homeless in Greater Sudbury jumps from 186 to 404, more than doubling the number.
Meals at the Mission
The Elgin Street Mission feeds 150 at breakfast and 200 at dinner. That is half of the number of people that the city recognises are homeless. We can’t use the Mission’s figures to tell how many homeless exist in Greater Sudbury although it may be a good indication of the number of homeless that live close to Sudbury’s downtown.
By–Name List
The By-Name List is used by the city to identify people who need housing. However, many homeless will not add themselves to the list. They do not trust the city’s navigators and the outreach workers to keep their data confidential. As far as signing up for housing, there is next to no suitable housing. (See the chart above.)
Where are the rest of the homeless?
Not all of Greater Sudbury’s homeless are concentrated in or around downtown Sudbury nor do they rely on the services that are located in the downtown.
They are spread out from Lively in the southwest up to Capreol on the northeast. Many cannot afford to pay rent and pay for groceries. They have to make a choice between the two so they live in tents and structures up in the hills and deep in the bush where the bylaw officers cannot find them. Living in a tent creates hardship.
Not eating is far worse.
Some homeless are sleeping in their cars. He is not the only one.
How many people are living in tents? One activist told me that he personally counts 1,500 in the summer months and 800 in the winter months. About 700 homeless go south for the winter. That is a shocking number.
However, Greater Sudbury came close to that figure in 2017, seven-years ago.
Some are on welfare and others have full-time jobs. What is common to all, is that they cannot afford to pay rent.
A large number of anonymous volunteers help them out by donating groceries, fuel, stoves, tarps, sleeping bags and supplies.
Unorganized townships
Last week, I met a man who got fed up with living in “Lesser” Sudbury. He now lives in a cabin that’s located in an unorganized township. He pays no municipal taxes.
There are very few, I’m sure, that are willing to go that far, but it does show that there are options for those who are tired of paying property taxes.