It’s hard to imagine a more perfect example of how Liberal policy turns compassion into chaos than the federal Reaching Home program. It was supposed to end homelessness. Instead, after spending $4.5 billion, we’ve watched homelessness skyrocket across this country, and the government can’t even tell us if things have improved. We don’t need them to tell us, everyone can see the results of the failed program living on our streets.
That’s not an opinion. That’s the Auditor General of Canada’s finding. Her report was crystal clear: Ottawa has spent billions to reduce homelessness but has no meaningful performance indicators, no national data, and no accountability to measure whether any of it is actually working.
How does a government spend nearly five billion dollars and not know what the results are?
It’s because this isn’t about solving problems, it’s about writing cheques, commissioning reports, and claiming credit for “caring.”
Billions in Reports, Not Results
Take my own community of Peterborough, for example. The United Way acts as the local administrator for Reaching Home funding. Millions of dollars are flowing through agencies and consultants, yet homelessness here is worse than it’s ever been.
We see tents across our city parks, people sleeping in doorways, families priced out of the rental market, and a growing number of Canadians losing hope.
Meanwhile, we’re paying $1.7 million for “reports” that tell us what every resident can already see with their own eyes, there’s a crisis. Reports and “community plans” that are full of buzzwords like systemic response and coordinated access but completely devoid of real, measurable outcomes.
Where’s the housing?
Where’s the accountability?
Where’s the hope?
Instead of investing in sustainable solutions like supportive housing, addiction recovery, and pathways back to work, this government is pouring billions into bureaucratic systems that reward administrators, not outcomes.
Liberal Policies Created This Crisis
The housing and homelessness crisis didn’t just “happen.” It’s a direct result of failed Liberal policy that has made life less affordable across the board.
Their reckless spending has driven inflation, pushed mortgage rates to decade highs, and priced entire generations out of the housing market. They tax builders, discourage investment, and then blame the provinces when the results are predictable: fewer homes, higher costs, and more people on the street.
The Liberal government’s approach to homelessness mirrors their approach to everything else, photo ops over performance, talking points over truth.
It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way
There is a better way, and it’s not by doubling down on failure. We need to tie every dollar of public funding to measurable results: how many people were actually housed? How many stayed housed? How many lives were turned around? What supports were offered? How much job training was provided? Was mental health provided in the supports? How about addiction treatment and recovery for those battling addiction?
Communities like Peterborough need flexibility and investing in other options. We need to ensure the same agencies who aren’t delivering results stop getting the funding. We need to make sure people with solutions are getting funding that is used for long term sustainable results. We need a government that measures success by outcomes, not by how much money it can spend or how many reports it can publish. We have agencies in Peterborough with proven success and they are not receiving any of this money, why? Because Reaching Home, like many federal programs is an “insider friends” program that align with Liberal policy and ideology. This is political, it is not about actually helping people who need it most.
Compassion without accountability isn’t compassion. It’s negligence. And Canadians are paying for it. literally, while people sleep outside in one of the wealthiest countries in the world.
Reaching Home was supposed to end homelessness. Instead, it’s become a $4.5-billion monument to government failure, that you, the taxpayer are paying for. Thanks to Liberal policies, less and less people will ever reach home.
Michelle Ferreri is a political commentator, strategic communications and media consultant, and the former Member of Parliament for Peterborough—Kawartha
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