Statement by County Warden Bob Crate and Acting CAO Glenn Dees

Cobourg, ON – January 29, 2026 – Every day, well over 6,000 people in Northumberland County access social assistance—people from all walks of life, ranging in age from infant to senior citizen. This is a conservative figure, based only on individuals accessing income support. The actual number—were we to include subsidized housing, rent supplements, child care supplements, food banks, and other forms of assistance—is certainly much higher.

With sharp increases in the cost of necessities like food, housing, and heat over the last few years, more people than ever before are facing housing insecurity—and more people are tipping into homelessness. New data shows that 85,000 Ontarians were homeless in 2025—an 8 per cent increase over 2024. We’re seeing this rise reflected right here in Northumberland, with a growing number of people accessing housing and homelessness services. Currently, about 50% of people accessing shelter services at 310 Division Street are senior citizens. This is but one measure of the significant and legitimate need in our community.

At Northumberland County, we have a group of incredibly dedicated, compassionate staff members working in our Social Services Department; individuals who keep coming back each morning, despite the sometimes-crushing nature of their work, to push the heavy rock of need just a little further uphill by the end of each day.

• They help struggling parents access child care fee subsidies so they can continue to work and feed their families.
• They help seniors whose spouses have suddenly passed away, apply for income benefits so they can survive independently.
• They help women fleeing domestic violence access housing supports.
• They help people living in their cars access homeless shelter services.
• And yes, they help people—young and old—who are suffering from addiction, access what limited recovery services might be available to them.

This is also a community rooted in strong volunteerism. Faith groups, charities, service clubs, and neighbourhoods regularly come together to coordinate supports for people less fortunate. When the word ‘advocate’ is used, let us remember our many neighbours who are giving their time to hold community dinners, deliver bagged lunches, host food drives, shuttle people to shower services, and set up knitting circles for donations of mitts and hats to those living in the cold.

These services our staff and community groups provide are lifesaving – now more than ever.

That is why we feel compelled to address statements made in the media this week about social services in our community. To reduce the work of our staff—and all social service work—to the enablement of criminal activity, and call for widespread ‘investigations’; to infer that people accessing social services are all criminals; to make such statements in an open forum, from the seat of the highest office of local government—this is not only irresponsible. It is reprehensible. And it is dangerous.

It is dangerous because it deters people from seeking the help they desperately need, fearing stigma, judgment, or being labeled as criminals. It puts those who do access services at risk of being targeted in the community. And it places an unsustainable burden on our social services professionals and community volunteers, who already carry immense emotional weight. When their work is publicly attacked and mischaracterized, we risk losing skilled, compassionate people doing some of the hardest—and most necessary—work in our county. Which only further imperils those struggling in our community who need help.

We can and we must continue to have difficult conversations about addiction, homelessness, and community safety. But we must also recognize that while these issues intersect, they are not one and the same. Leadership means carefully navigating the differences.

Municipalities are being stretched to the limit as we take the lead in addressing what has become a national crisis. This moment calls for thoughtful, responsible dialogue that at once advances community safety priorities, while recognizing the dignity of those in need, and supporting the people working to help them. Dialogue that brings communities together. Rhetoric and blame undermine our collective ability to deliver effective, compassionate responses—and they do not get us any closer to meaningful solutions.