$84 million funding gap means new refugee centre will open as homeless shelter in Mississauga

An innovative new refugee welcome centre that’s supposed to give refugees a safe place to land in Mississauga will be just another homeless shelter until Ottawa commits another $84 million to the program, the Region of Peel says.

The Region of Peel said on Thursday that the centre will open as planned in November but won’t have space, supports or services for thousands of refugees as promised by the region when the doors first open.

Instead, the facility will operate as a standard Peel Region shelter with space for only 680 people unless the feds commit $84 million in funding for Ontario municipalities dealing with a settlement crisis.

The price tag of the Peel Region Welcome Centre keeps going up with initial funding of $7 million committed by the federal government to open a new reception centre near Toronto Pearson International Airport in Mississauga to help asylum seekers find housing.

In March the Region said it needed another one-time commitment of $10 million from the feds to get the centre operational and another $9.3 million annually to keep it running.

Ottawa has since upped its contribution to $22 million – just shy of a $23 million ask from the Region, which now says it will take some $84 million in additional funding to bring the settlement services billed in the project’s reveal to refugees in Mississauga and Brampton and several other Ontario municipalities.

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That funding would come from a “portable housing subsidy,” and staff said they would push for more commitments from Ottawa at an upcoming meeting with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

While opening the welcome centre comes with a big financial commitment, the region says leaving asylum seekers in the shelter system is more costly to taxpayers. A stay in a Peel Region shelter or hotel costs over $200 per day, while similar services under the portable housing subsidy would cost $45 per day.

Staff said getting the welcome centre up and running would be “better for the claimant and the region,” with Peel Regional Chair Nando Iannicca adding that without wrap-around supports the centre will be “a glorified shelter and a holding tent.”

In March the Region said it needed another one-time commitment of $10 million from the feds to get the centre operational and another $9.3 annually to keep it running. Ottawa has since upped its contribution to $22 million, just shy of a $23 million ask from the Region.

The push to open the centre came after two asylum seekers from Africa died in Peel after sleeping outside.

Ontario is home to the highest number of permanent resident refugees in Canada, sitting at an estimated 39,800 individuals according to a survey earlier this year. In September 2022, the Region said refugees made up close to 60 per cent of the shelter population which was around 260 per cent over capacity at the time.

The shelter is expected to open on Nov. 1, the region said.