Lambton County Warden Kevin Marriott is hopeful the provincial government will invest in affordable, supportive housing.

Marriott and Deputy Warden Brian White, along with staff from the county, met with the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Paul Calandra, at the Association of Municipalities conference recently. The meeting was the third time this year county officials met with the minister to talk about affordable housing.

Marriott says last year when the county approached the province at the AMO conference for help to deal with the homelessness problem, the response was polite but it was clear the county needed a plan. Over the past year, Lambton has hired Indwell – a non-profit agency which develops supportive housing – to develop an apartment complex in Sarnia.

Marriott says Calandra seemed pleased with the progress being made. And he’s hopeful there will be some cash for the supportive housing in the future.

The warden says Calandra made “no promises, but usually you can tell…when they tell you ‘well, stay tuned.’ At least that’s positive because it means that usually, there is something coming.”

Marriott would also like to see the federal government invest in affordable housing and “consider other places other than big cities…because it (funding) does have to be a three-way street.”

And while funding for housing is important, the warden says the province has to invest in addiction treatment as well.

“So many people have an addiction problem, if you don’t treat the addiction along with finding them a house, the house isn’t going to last long,” Marriott said.

Meantime, Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley wants the county to have a discussion about legal options to remove a homeless encampment at Rainbow Park.

In a letter to county councillors which will be discussed next week, Bradley says the city has been told by lawyers that “if we wish to move forward with an injunction to bring control to the Rainbow Park encampment or any others, all prohibitions would need to be removed to satisfy the courts.”

Bradley asks if the county has removed any of the barriers keeping people from using the 48 available shelter beds in the city. He particularly is interested to know if the county has considered letting couples stay together at shelters.

And Bradley wants to know if the county would be part of any legal action to clear the park.