Inadequate income, a conflict with a spouse or partner, and a dispute with a landlord were the top three reasons people were living without housing in 2024, according to a recent report.

Along with rising chronic homelessness, these are some of the findings of the United Way Peterborough & District’s 2024 point-in-time count of people experiencing homelessness in the community. The last report of this kind was conducted in 2021.

“This biannual snapshot of who is unhoused in our community is critical in understanding the actions and policies that are needed to address homelessness in Peterborough,” said United Way CEO Jim Russell in a media release announcing the report.

A point-in-time count is intended to provide a snapshot of who is experiencing homelessness in a community during a specific period. For the 2024 count, 343 surveys were conducted in a 24-hour period on November 18 and 19, 2024, as well as an extended survey period which ran until the afternoon of November 21.

The 2024 point-in-time count was conducted by a trained team of surveyors — many of whom had lived experience of being unhoused — along with shelter staff and outreach workers from different agencies.

Individuals and families who were counted included those who were staying in emergency shelters, transitional housing, outdoors in tents, makeshift shelters, or in other public areas, and those who identified as unhoused when accessing community services where surveyors had been stationed.

According to the report, point-in-time counts conducted over successive years can be used to track a community’s progress in reducing homelessness. However, there are some limitations to the methodology, which can result in undercounting because of the difficulty in locating people who are living unhoused.

One of the key findings of the 32-page report is that 27 per cent of the people who were surveyed are Indigenous — which is over five times higher than the representation of Indigenous people in the city’s general population. The report states that housing instability is an inequity that Indigenous people face as a consequence of colonialism.

“There is a growing overrepresentation of Indigenous people experiencing homelessness in the City of Peterborough,” the report states. “People that are currently experiencing homelessness in Peterborough is much higher than the five per cent of Indigenous people in Peterborough’s total population.”

Other findings of the report involve gender, age, education, and health conditions.

Over 40 per cent of those surveyed were white heterosexual men, with 78 per cent of those surveyed being adults aged 25 to 54 and eight per cent 65 or older — with the number of seniors experiencing homelessness increasing.

While only four per cent of those surveyed were youth aged 16 to 24, the report notes that many young people fall into “hidden homelessness” and may not have been reached by surveyors.

Although 39 per cent of people surveyed had no high school diploma, 18 per cent had graduated post-secondary school with a degree, with the report speculating that the burden of debt for post-secondary education may be a factor in the economic situations of those who are highly educated but living unhoused.

Of those surveyed, 43 per cent reported having a physical illness, 49 per cent reported having a physical disability, and 48 per cent reported having difficulty with seeing or hearing.

In addition, 82 per cent reported a substance use condition and 72 per cent identified as having a mental health condition, while 47 per cent reported having a learning or cognitive limitation — particularly among the small group of young people who were surveyed.

“Supportive housing is required to meet the needs of those with health conditions, including evidence-based harm reduction approaches for those who use substances,” the report recommends.

Another key finding of the report is an increase in chronic homelessness, with almost 80 per cent of those surveyed being homeless for over six months in the previous 12 months — a rise of 20 per cent from 2016 — and 70 per cent reported being homeless for about half or more of the previous three years.

The report also addresses a common misconception about unhoused people in Peterborough: that most have no connection to the city and have recently migrated from other areas for the purpose of accessing social services.

“While this does happen in very few cases, the vast majority of people have either always lived here or, if they did migrate here, they generally have roots in Peterborough,” the report points out, noting that 34 per cent have always lived in Peterborough and that 65 per cent have been in the city for anywhere from five to 51 years.

“By far the most common reason for coming to Peterborough is to be with family, friends, or to return to their hometown,” the report adds.

The report states that, while there have been some successes in addressing the homelessness crisis in Peterborough such as the modular bridge housing community on Wolfe Street and One City Peterborough’s low-barrier shelter at Trinity Community Centre, “we need long-term solutions that prevent people from falling into homelessness in the first place.”

There are many barriers that unhoused people face when attempting to find appropriate rental housing, according to the report, including perceived housing readiness (landlords may discriminate against people who struggle with access to showers, clothing, and laundry facilities), high health needs, no access to phone or internet, no access to transportation, no references, no or low credit ratings, limited income or lack of employment, no bank account, and no government-issued identification.

“Homelessness, and poverty more broadly, is not something individuals can put behind them by simply pulling themselves up by their bootstraps,” the report concludes. “These are system-level problems, and they require system-level solutions based on principles of both economic justice and housing justice.”

This was the fourth nationally coordinated point-in-time county for the United Way Peterborough and District, along with its partners. Funding for the count was provided through a grant from the Government of Canada’s Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy, a community-based program aimed at preventing and reducing homelessness across Canada. This program provides funding to communities to help them address their local homelessness needs.

For a copy of the full 2024 point-in-time count report, visit the United Way Peterborough & District’s website at www.uwpeterborough.ca/reports/.

Peterborough mayor Jeff Leal has shared a letter he received last Friday (October 24) from Ontario’s environment minister about GE Vernova’s proposed demolition of 26 vacant buildings at the General Electric factory complex in downtown Peterborough, and has issued a statement in response to the letter.

In the letter to the mayor, Todd McCarthy states that “The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks recognizes the importance of this matter to Peterborough City Council, local residents and others who have a strong interest in protecting community health and the environment.”

“The ministry has not yet received a detailed demolition plan from GE Vernova. Once received, staff will carefully review the proposed plans and provide technical comments and recommendations to ensure the demolition process meets provincial regulatory requirements and protects public health and the environment.”

“The ministry will continue to offer its participation in technical discussions and remains open to collaboration with the City of Peterborough, community members and agencies,” McCarthy adds. “Transparency and public confidence are key priorities throughout this process.”

The mayor had written to the minister on October 15, following a 6-5 vote at city council the previous evening not to pursue a heritage designation for the buildings being proposed for demolition, effectively delisting the buildings from the city’s heritage register and clearing the way for GE Vernova to proceed.

At the meeting, city council heard from nine public delegations expressing concerns about the proposed demolition, because of known contamination of the industrial site with toxic hazardous substances over the past 125 years and the impact of a demolition on the safety of the surrounding residential neighbourhoods.

During the meeting, city staff advised council that the municipality has no authority to prevent the demolition, other than by declaring its intent to designate the buildings under the Ontario Heritage Act, and that the provincial government was responsible for regulating environmental impacts of the demolition.

In his October 15 letter to McCarthy, Leal said “the full weight of the Environmental Protection Act needs to be applied” because of the toxicity of the site, and said he would be “happy” to meet with the minister to discuss the issue.

In his response, McCarthy did not mention a meeting with the mayor. Instead, he said “Given the technical complexity, historical sensitivities and local knowledge surrounding this site, I encourage you, council members or city staff to contact David Bradley, Peterborough District Manager, with any questions or to arrange a meeting.”

In response to McCarthy’s letter, Leal issued a statement on Monday (October 27) that he is “very pleased that the Minister has responded so comprehensively, and in a manner that reflects the urgency and sensitivity of this issue for our community.”

The mayor added that the content of the letter “addresses the items that I would have expected to be raised during a meeting” and he will no longer be pursuing a meeting with the minister.

“The City will continue to communicate with the Ministry of the Environment on the environmental risk mitigation and management aspects of this matter, meeting as needed through the process to share information between the relevant agencies with their respective jurisdictions on behalf of the community,” Leal stated.

Five Counties Children’s Centre would not be here without the central role played by local Rotary Clubs. And fittingly, it’s in a roomful of Rotary Club members meeting in Peterborough in 1970 where our story begins.

The discussion that night in 1970 among Peterborough Rotarians focused on “a suitable venture” by which to mark the 50th anniversary of the club’s founding.

According to the club’s centennial book released in 2021 (meticulously researched and written by Bruce and Frances Gravel), the Rotarians settled on this venture: “the establishment of a children’s care centre” — which became Five Counties.

Some Rotarians had a personal interest in this project, including club members who had children with a physical disability. Providing care closer to home stood to benefit them and other families of children with physical needs, who often had to travel to Toronto, Oshawa, or Kingston for treatment at that time.

But creating a “children’s care centre” to serve Peterborough and surrounding region also aligned with what local Rotarians were doing at the time.

Back then, local Rotary clubs were already funding recreation activities for children with physical disabilities, including swimming programs, a Saturday morning kids’ club, and a summer day camp called Camp Omigolly.

On March 21, 1972, Five Counties was officially incorporated, with Rotary Clubs in Peterborough, Port Hope, Campbellford, Cobourg, Fenelon Falls, Haliburton, Havelock, Lindsay and Minden pledging to support the venture.

The big ask was securing funding for a new building, which Rotarians — supported by families in the area, medical experts, and local leaders — were able to do the following year when the Ontario government signed on.

The original building plan for Five Counties, to be built on Dutton Road in the north end of Peterborough on a parcel of land donated by the City of Peterborough, was based on the design of a similar centre in St. Catharines.

The initial plan for Five Counties included a children’s treatment wing, day care, and swimming pool to be built at a total cost of $920,000. To save money, the pool was deferred (and ultimately never built), shaving $200,000 off the price tag.

The Ontario Ministry of Health and the Ontario Society for Crippled Children (the term used at the time) committed to providing approximately 80 per cent of the building costs, leaving the balance of $148,000 to be raised locally.

Each of the nine Rotary Clubs pledged money to the initiative. For example, the Rotary Club of Peterborough contributed $25,000, while the smaller Rotary Club of Campbellford donated $10,000.

“Contributing the initial $10,000 would have been quite the feat for the Rotary Club at the time,” notes Dave Sharp, secretary of the Campbellford Rotary Club. “It is obvious that the club membership (at the time) understood the need to help get (Five Counties) started, despite having a limited number of patients from our immediate area.”

Club members were driven to help in other ways. With local fundraising successful, the “new” Five Counties opened its doors in Peterborough in 1975.

In those early days, Rotarians around the region — including in Campbellford, Lindsay, and Haliburton — still took an interest, by driving children and families to treatment appointments in Peterborough if they couldn’t get there themselves.

“That is what community organizations do — take care of those in need,” Sharp adds.

Over the years, local Rotary Clubs continued to financially support Five Counties as it expanded services to assist children and youth with physical, developmental and communication needs.

For example, the Rotary Club of Peterborough still holds the annual Fore the Kids golf tournament in support of Five Counties, building on the $353,003 it has contributed in total to the Centre since it opened its doors 50 years ago.

As Five Counties opened new Centre sites in Lindsay, Haliburton County, Campbellford and Cobourg to better serve kids and youth in these areas, Rotary was also there to help.

When Five Counties relocated to its current Division Street location in Cobourg, the three local Rotary clubs — Cobourg, Port Hope, and Northumberland Sunrise — pitched in to buy a special lift for the new facility.

The connection to Five Counties was personal in many ways, according to Denise O’Brien, past president of the Rotary Club of Northumberland Sunrise, who calls the Centre “an essential service in our community to support the wellbeing of children and their families.”

Denise relates the story of another Rotary Club member, Rhonda, whose son was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and how Five Counties became “the beacon of support” the family needed.

As Denise tells it, Rhonda credits Five Counties for showing her family “what caring, professional, devoted staff can collectively do to make a huge — and I mean huge — impact on the lives of those with a disability and their family. The team allowed our son to be the very best version of himself… Five Counties holds a special place in our hearts.”

At Five Counties, the feeling is reciprocated, as the Centre would not be here without the vision and support of local Rotarians, past and present.

In their centennial book marking 100 years of Rotary Clubs in Peterborough, the Gravels note the establishment of Five Counties “was a worthy monument to the activities of Rotary during the decade of the ’70s.”

It could be argued that Rotary’s “worthy monument” is a legacy that lives on to this day. It’s evident in the thousands of children, youth, and their families who were assisted by Five Counties over five decades, as well as the many more who stand to benefit from our services in the years to come.

Taking care of children is hard work and local parents feel isolated and overwhelmed, according to a recent study conducted by the Research for Social Change Lab (RSCL) at Trent University in Peterborough in partnership with Lakelands Public Health.

Last Tuesday (October 21), RSCL released Parenting Matters in Peterborough, the final report of the group’s “In Their Own Words: Parenting Work in Nogojiwanong/Peterborough” research study.

The report highlights the challenges that area parents face while raising children and provides evidence-based recommendations aimed at improving family wellbeing.

The report’s lead author, Trent University researcher Dr. Mary Anne Martin, shared her thoughts with kawarthaNOW about the most telling discovery findings of the report.

“We heard that parents are working really hard, but without adequate incomes, affordable child care, and accessible primary health care, they remain overwhelmed in trying to provide the safe, stable and nurturing environments that children need,” Dr. Martin said.

Drawing on more than 560 survey responses and the insights of 57 focus group participants, the research study set out to capture the realities of parenting in Peterborough. The vast majority of participants identified as women, despite targeted attempts by the researchers to encourage the participation of men in the focus groups.

The researchers gained insights into what families need, and the report offers an extensive set of recommendations for how the community can help support parents.

According to the report, while parenting is essential work that shapes children, families, and communities, it is often undervalued and unsupported. Parents in the community are working hard to keep themselves and their families well, but that not be enough to ensure the wellbeing of children.

Dr. Martin highlighted some of the systemic challenges parents face, including the high cost of living, issues with access to child care, and barriers to services such as primary health care.

Ultimately, parents are constantly stressed.

“In the survey, 51 per cent of parents reported they always or often felt stressed over the last six months,” said RSCL director Dr. Naomi Nichols in a media release announcing the report. “But parents also told us what they need to thrive. Their voices reveal the real conditions of parenting work in our city and the opportunities for positive change.”

Dr. Thomas Piggott, medical officer of health and CEO of Lakelands Public Health, said the findings illustrate the need for a collaborative community response to the issue of overwhelmed parents.

“Helping parents effectively requires cross-sector collaboration and upstream solutions,” Dr. Piggott said in a statement. “When communities, schools, health and social services, and government work together, we can reduce stress, build stronger families, and help children grow up healthy and safe.”

The report includes voices from parents in the City of Peterborough, Peterborough County, Curve Lake First Nation, and Hiawatha First Nation. A parent is defined as anyone who is a primary caregiver for a child, and a family “includes the breadth and diversity of household compositions that form structures of caregiving for a child.”

According to the report, the events, environments, and relationships that people experience, especially early in life when their brains and bodies are developing, can have a profound impact on their health and wellbeing over their lifetime.

“Both episodic and ongoing adverse experiences can cause chronic stress that keeps children’s nervous systems activated and unable to recover, potentially having serious impacts on how their bodies and brains develop,” the report states.

“As important people in children’s lives, parents and caregivers have the opportunity to interrupt the effects of adversity on children and promote resilience in their lives. To do this well, parents themselves need to be supported. While much is known about the impacts that children’s homes, communities, and society generally can have on their experiences of adversity and resilience, little empirical knowledge has been available regarding the experiences of parents, and more specifically, those in Peterborough.”

The study set out to change that, and researchers collected information aimed at understanding who is parenting children, what everyday parenting work entails, the factors that make parenting work harder, the conditions that make parenting easier, and more.

The purpose of the report is “to encourage decision-makers to use our findings to develop policies and invest in interventions that support safe, stable, and nurturing developmental contexts for children” and “inform a more equitable system of supports for children and families,” the researchers noted.

Along with Dr. Martin, the report’s co-authors are Trent University professor Dr. Naomi Nichols and public health nurses Kate Dunford and Kara Koteles, with contributions from others. The full report is available at www.socialchangelab.ca/in-their-own-words-final-report.

Founded at Trent University by Dr. Nichols in 2021, RSCL is a community-engaged research collective that aims to mobilize university resources for social change. With community partners, RSCL designs and executes research projects to generate actionable knowledge and creative problem-solving around issues such as homelessness, social exclusion, and poverty.

The Ontario Land Tribunal has dismissed an appeal by Peterborough Action for Tiny Homes (PATH) of Peterborough city council’s decision to deny the grassroots organization’s application for a temporary use by-law to build 24 sleeping cabins on Lansdowne Street for people experiencing homelessness.

“It is with sadness, heartbreak and disappointment that we received the decision of the Ontario Land Tribunal yesterday,” PATH stated in a media release issued on Thursday night (October 23). “The ruling denied our final appeal for temporary rezoning, determining that we will not be able to create a sleeping cabin community at our 385 Lansdowne Street East site.”

In March 2023, PATH entered into a three-year lease agreement with Habitat for Humanity Peterborough and Kawartha Region for the purpose of providing transitional shelter support at the Lansdowne Street site, the former Peterborough Humane Society property located east of Ashburnham Drive, which Habitat had purchased with the intention of later developing multi-unit affordable residential housing.

PATH then began the land use planning process that would eventually result in an application for a temporary use by-law for the site, which is currently zoned as commercial. That process culminated with a report from city staff that recommended the temporary use by-law be approved. The staff report was presented to Peterborough city council meeting as general committee on August 26, 2024.

That meeting became a referendum on the viability of PATH’s proposal itself, as well as the suitability of the proposed site, with council hearing from 10 delegations that included neighbouring businesses and residents who objected to the location of the proposed sleeping cabin community.

One of the delegations was Toromont Industries, a heavy machinery company that operates Toromont Cat and Battlefield Equipment Rentals to the south of 385 Lansdowne Street, which objected to the proposed location of the sleeping cabin community because it would be in close proximity to their operations in an industrial zone.

“That heavy machinery makes a lot of noise (and) spits out a lot of dust and emissions,” said Garnet Peirson, the company’s vice president of real estate and development, during the delegation. “If there are complaints to Ministry of the Environment about noise, Ministry of the Environment can come in and shut down our operations or they can severely alter our operations.”

Peirson said this is something the company has faced in Kanata when a residential development was located near their business as well as in Concord. Peirson also noted that Toromont is planning to expand directly behind 385 Lansdowne Street.

At the end of the meeting, city council voted 8-2 against accepting the application for the proposed use by-law, with only councillors Alex Bierk and Joy Lachica voting in favour.

In response to city council’s decision, PATH announced on October 3, 2024 that it had submitted an appeal to OLT, and subsequently began raising money to cover some of the legal costs for the appeal process.

After a case management conference in March 2025, during which Toromont Industries was added as an appellant, OLT held a video hearing from June 12 to 26 to review the appeal against the City of Peterborough’s decision.

While the city monitored the hearing, it did not take an active role and did not call any witnesses. Instead, representatives from Toromont Industries argued against PATH’s appeal, cross-examining the city’s director of planning, development and urban design Brad Appleby at one point during the hearing about the city staff recommendation.

On October 22, OLT issued its ruling to dismiss PATH’s appeal, concluding that the proposed use of the site would conflict with provincial land use compatibility policies because of its proximity to Toromont. The 19-page decision was written by Carolyn Molinari, who was reappointed to the tribunal in September 2024 for a three-year term. The Ajax resident is a member of the Ontario Professional Planners Institute with over 30 years experience as an urban planner.

The tribunal found that the proposed cabin community is a residential use and not an institutional or shelter-type use as PATH had argued, and is therefore considered a “dwelling” under provincial noise and land use compatibility rules. Because of this classification, the project would be located too close to an active industrial operation, creating land use compatibility conflicts that provincial policy seeks to avoid.

OLT determined the site is within the restricted 70-metre separation zone for sensitive land uses near industry, creating a risk of noise complaints and could limit Toromont’s operations or expansion. Even if mitigation such as fencing, air conditioning, or noise walls were added, the tribunal concluded, the risk to Toromont’s lawful operations and expansion could not be acceptably eliminated.

The tribunal’s decision heavily leaned on provincial land-use rules that prohibit new residential uses near industrial facilities without separation or transition zones, that protect employment lands from being constrained by neighbouring complaints, and that require avoidance first rather than mitigation — suggesting that PATH needs to find a more suitable site.

In its findings, OLT states four times that it “prefers the evidence” given during the hearing by Toromont experts over PATH’s experts.

OLT also gave “limited weight” to the city staff report supporting the application, noting that the staff recommendation presumed the sleeping cabins were classified as “noise sensitive institutional purpose buildings” rather than residential dwellings.

“Had the cabins been classified as dwellings, it remains uncertain whether the staff report would have reached the same conclusion,” the ruling states.

The tribunal also found that the proposed temporary use by-law application “does not meet the intent and policies” of the city’s official plan, adding that it “does not represent good land use planning and is not in the public interest.”

As for PATH, the organization expressed its dismay at the OLT decision and outlined the group’s activities while the appeal was underway.

“We believed in our community of sleeping cabins as a creative and meaningful part of the solution to the housing crisis in Peterborough,” PATH states. “We believed strongly in our appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal. We fought hard, engaged experts, presented strong evidence, and did our due diligence.”

“While we waited for the OLT decision, we forged ahead. We looked at our community’s need and asked where we could help. We continued to develop strong partnerships with community agencies and we collaborated, shared capacity and resources, slowly moving the dial forward to support people through the local housing crisis. Over this time, we are proud to say that more of our unhoused neighbours had access to warm, sturdy winter clothing and survival essentials through our program and outreach partnerships.”

“Our Community Clothing Hub continues to hum as we receive, launder, sort and distribute hundreds of bags of clothing, blankets, sleeping bags and survival items to partner agencies in an effort to help our unhoused neighbours have some comfort and safety in extreme temperatures.”

“We continue to open our doors on Wednesdays through our PATHWay to Home initiative, that provides shelter from the elements, a warm shower and meal, snacks to take away and a fresh haircut and clothing-while at the same time helping folks feel the comfort of a caring community.”

“We work closely with our partner One City Peterborough to create much needed Additional Rental Units (ARUs) that provide permanent shelter and add to our city’s depleted transitional housing pool.”

As for its next steps given the OLT decision, PATH says “Our purpose is to help relieve poverty, and we will continue to work toward this goal,” noting that governments at all levels (federal, provincial, and municipal), social service organizations, and grassroots movements must come together to provide “meaningful solutions for our unhoused neighbours that involve a full range of pathways that honour a person’s choice and right to dignity.”

“We will take time to reflect on this by consulting with our partner agencies,” PATH states. “We will process this setback and ask ourselves what steps we will take going forward.”

PDF: Ontario Land Tribunal – Case number OLT-24-001038
Ontario Land Tribunal - Case number OLT-24-001038

This story has been updated to include a copy of the OLT’s ruling.