Homelessness in rural Ontario is growing putting strain on small town resources

People working with homeless individuals outside of Ontario’s cities say a recent report that shows homelessness is growing in rural areas reaffirms their call that more money for housing and social services is needed.

Nearly 85,000 people were known to be experiencing homelessness across Ontario in 2025, according to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) and the Northern Ontario Service Deliverers Association, which used data provided by city and county social services staff.

That’s an eight per cent rise over the previous year.

In rural Ontario, homelessness grew more rapidly than in any other community type, climbing by 31 per cent last year. More than 4,600 people were unhoused in mostly rural areas in 2025, the report said.

“We have continued to see an incline in our rates, so it doesn’t surprise me to see that those numbers are climbing across the province,” said Erin Schooley, homelessness program manager for Huron County, north of London, Ont.

“This report is bringing to light some important talking points around these issues that are not just an urban crisis but also rural, and we need multiple levels of government to respond to it.”

In Huron County, 195 people were reported to be experiencing homelessness in December, in line with the provincial average.

“It shows us not only what the numbers are sitting at, but how folks enter into the system and how long they’re in the system. And those are definitely much more grim from pre-pandemic times,” Schooley said.

Huron County operates a program called “bridge housing” which places people in private rooms in housing where they can access group homes, counsellors and systems navigation, in partnership with its local Canadian Mental Health Association chapter.

It has also focused on creating housing with supports, including three new builds.

Despite funding from the province’s homelessness prevention program, which Schooley said has been very helpful, she admits Huron County has had to support some programs through tax levies, which puts pressure on taxpayers.

AMO’s report notes that “lower population density and smaller tax bases limit the extent to which such support can be addressed through the property-tax levy alone” in rural communities.

Hidden homelessness

A major challenge with rural homelessness is that its harder to track compared to larger urban centres, according to Danielle Neilson, manager of housing stability services in St. Thomas and Elgin County.

“Often it’s more hidden and it’s impacted in different ways by things like lack of community resources, lack of transportation, concern for people’s privacy and information getting shared broadly throughout the community,” she said.

Homelessness response funding in general is underfunded– Danielle Neilson, Service Manager St. Thomas and Elgin

Neilson said service provider in St. Thomas and Elgin are working together on programs that help people pay rent and utilities, Ontario Works and investments in staff dedicated to deal with active and imminent cases.

“That’s not a perfect solution though, because people generally want to stay in their home communities and I don’t think we can fault them for that, but the affordability challenges really sometimes get in the way,” she said.

‘Significant’ funding in housing needed

The Huron County’s by-name waitlist for housing decreased from 130 in the last quarter of 2025 to about 110 this month. While most programs are funded by the province, municipality and private donations, the sector needs more money to keep up with growing demand, said Neilson.

“Homelessness response funding in general is underfunded, so everywhere there’s an investment into creating a response, it’s being stretched as far as it possibly can,” she said.

“Organizations aren’t receiving as much funding as they need to run a robust program and service managers, like myself and my counterparts across Ontario, are often challenged with where we invest because we don’t have enough funding to invest everywhere.”

The province has increased support for rural regions through targeted infrastructure, operating, and development programs but AMO’s report said rural municipalities remain more dependent on property tax revenue, which accounts for approximately 62 per cent of their revenues.

In Bruce County, the waitlist for community housing in the county has grown by 17 per cent between September 2024 and 2025, said Claire Dodds, commissioner of community development.

Although the county has outreach coordinators, and has invested in transitional housing units, the increased cost and lack of available housing have left more people without stability, she said.

“We do need significant investments in housing. And we’re urging the provincial and federal governments to find ways to be able to follow those dollars and to help bring that housing quickly in community in order to meet our immediate needs,” Dodds said.