A new report from city staff recommends against implementing a residency-based eligibility policy for Hamilton shelter access but says that staff should be directed to continue strengthening existing diversion practices and inter-municipal coordination.
The report comes after City Council passed a motion in April 2026 to have staff examine emergency shelter access policies across Ontario, including eligibility criteria, residency or community connection requirements, intake practices, diversion or return-to-origin supports, funding implications and available service outcome data.
There was a narrative at the time, primarily disseminated via social media, that people from other cities have been coming to Hamilton while searching for housing support, putting a strain on the municipality.
Staff were also directed to report back on current practices related to how residency and origin are tracked.
What they determined was that the city’s Homeless Individuals and Families Information System (HIFIS) can capture certain information related to housing history, including previous community and last known address, but that the information “is not currently collected or standardized across the system for the purpose of determining residency or community connection.”
Staff added that, currently, “using HIFIS client services information to specifically understand non-resident system pressures is not feasible.”
At the same time, staff say that the implementation of standardized collection and reporting of the information through HIFIS going forward is “technically feasible” but would require “further assessment of system design, data standards, reporting requirements, staff training, and operational impacts across participating service providers.”
Instead, staff say that the latest Point-in-Time survey, which was conducted in November 2024, can be used to analyze the situation.
The survey showed that the proportion of people who were homeless in 2024 and who had arrived in Hamilton within the last 12 months was 24 per cent – up from 21 per cent in 2021.
The top response was those who have always been in the city, which was 37 per cent in 2024 – up from 36 per cent in 2021.
Staff conclude that the findings “do not suggest a disproportionate or increasing reliance on Hamilton’s emergency shelter system by individuals without prior connection to the community.”
In regard to diversion, the city reportedly funds diversion activities “across all city-funded emergency shelters in Hamilton,” including supporting an individual’s return to another community where they have safe housing options, family connections, or established supports.
In 2025, the city’s diversion program reportedly reached 2,159 individuals and 256 received one-time financial assistance, such as transportation costs
In staff’s jurisdictional scan, they discovered that only two of the nine municipalities contacted have established written policies that define residency criteria and guide service access.
But even those policies are reportedly “used within specific programs or intake processes rather than as complete restrictions on access to emergency shelter.”
Hamilton City Council will discuss whether or not to take any further action on the report at their General Issues Committee meeting on Wednesday.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
