Alberta, Ontario taken aback by federal housing minister on funding for homelessness

The federal government says Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan haven’t formally responded to an offer of funding to tackle homelessness. But Alberta’s minister in charge of the file says the province isn't saying no and his officials have been actively meeting with Ottawa on the file.

Ottawa committed $250 million over two yearsin its budget to provide more shelter spaces, transitional homes, harm reduction spaces and services.Federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser said in a Tuesday statement that the three provinces have yet to officially get on board.Fraser said he reached out with a Sept. 18 letter looking to work with all provinces and territories.

“In the letter, we offered millions of dollars in additional funding in exchange for partnering with us and matching our contributions,” he said.Fraser said he would go straight to cities to try to quickly match funding costs, including Edmonton and Calgary.“We will no longer wait for (provinces) to muster the political will to act as winter gets closer and lives are put at risk,” he said.

Alberta's Seniors, Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon called Fraser's comments “bizarre and almost childish,” since officials on both sides have been meeting, including as recently as Monday, to discuss a cost-matching agreement."We have no idea what Minister Fraser is talking about. And I'm not going to get too bogged down in it, because we've got bigger jobs to do than to play games with the federal government," said Nixon.