PBO and Food Banks Say Homelessness, Signs of Poverty Are on the Rise

A new report says homelessness in Canada is rising, in spite of Ottawa spending over half a billion dollars a year to fight it. Released by the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO), the report says almost all of Ottawa’s funding to reduce homelessness goes to a program called Reaching Home, which helps fund communities to reduce homelessness. The PBO report says in spite of averaging $561 million a year in spending, the situation has not been improved. “The best available evidence suggests that homelessness has increased in spite of Reaching Home,” said the PBO report. It said the number of homeless people has jumped by 20 percent compared to 2018, and the number of “chronically homeless people” has risen by 38 percent....