Sarnia-Lambton community leaders discussed issues surrounding housing, homelessness and addictions during Tuesday's Stronger Together summit.
The event, hosted by the County of Lambton, saw area dignitaries, public health officials, first responders and others pack the Lambton College Events Centre.
County Supervisor of Homelessness Prevention and Social Planning Ian Hanney said the relationship between homelessness and addiction is complex and not a one-directional issue.
"Housing is one of our social determinants of health, homelessness is an outcome. It's an outcome of a mix of social determinants of health, including housing, relationships, education," said Hanney. "There's a number of social factors that contribute to the eventual outcome of homelessness, substance use and addictions as well. It's bi-directional and it's not a simple case of substance abuse causes homelessness."
According to the County's by-name list, more than 240 people are currently experiencing some form of homelessness. Around 10 to 12 of those individuals sleep outside every night.
Hanney said the most common cited reason for staying outside is choosing not to stay in an existing available emergency housing due to substance use.
"But of course, the crux of it, the biggest reason we have so much homelessness is the lack of affordable homes, it's housing. It's the primary cause of our drastic increase in homelessness."
Hanney said the by-name list gives the county a better understanding of the issues and allows them to make data-driven decisions to maximize available resources.
Speakers during the event included the county's medical officer of health, members of the social services team, and the acting CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association. Those in attendance also took part in a roundtable discussion following the presentations.
Social Services General Manager Valerie Colosanti said it's going to take a systems approach to solve or reduce the issues of homelessness.
"And since COVID, Lambton County has really put in that approach -- we did not have a systems approach before. So, today I'm kind of excited about just including those conversations, having a little bit more what agencies are we missing? What other groups can we have join us in this approach?"
"We knew they were there, we knew a lot of people in rural communities were couch-surfing, precariously housed, and when COVID hit, people had to leave those situations and we really saw that explosion," said Colosanti. "We had started that approach, to put in a systems approach, prior to COVID, it just made us do it so much faster. We feel the system is there now, so how can we tweak it and how can we work with our partners? And let's have those conversations today."