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Taxpayer funding for homelessness programs has doubled and senior county officials have received massive salary increases since, yet the crisis continues to escalate.

Now, Northumberland-Peterborough South MPP David Piccini is throwing his support behind Cobourg Mayor Lucas Cleveland’s push to reclaim public parks for families, seniors, and law-abiding residents.

On July 10, Piccini sent a formal letter to Mayor Cleveland, now part of the town’s official record, endorsing council’s unanimous June 24 decision to strip social-services advocacy language from the draft Parks and Recreation Master Plan. The original document had framed housing and shelter as a “human right” in parks planning, recommended syringe disposal bins, non-stigmatizing drug-use signage, and treated illegal encampments as just another parks consideration.

The draft itself acknowledged that families and seniors were avoiding local parks due to encampments, needles, and open drug use — yet its response was more meetings and signage rather than getting firm on enforcement of public safety to ensure parks are used for their intended purpose.

Mayor Cleveland’s motion came after years of complaints by Cobourg residents about disorder in the streets. Those concerns were heightened in the vicinity of the low-barrier shelter expansion operated by Transition House downtown Cobourg, which is primarily funded by Northumberland County.

Shortly after a community townhall detailed the chaos, the shelter was then redesignated as a higher-barrier facility.

Piccini’s letter directly affirms the town’s right to follow Ontario laws designed to keep communities safe. “Encampments are not a solution to homelessness,” he wrote. “They are unsafe, unregulated and promote unstable living conditions.” He reminded the municipality that it is not required to permit encampments when indoor spaces are available, stressing that homelessness falls under Northumberland County’s upper-tier responsibility and is not suitable for a municipal parks planning document.

The province has invested heavily into homelessness prevention with a near doubling of funding, historic 48% investment of $2 million in 2023 and another $2 million in 2024 through the Homelessness Prevention Program, plus millions more for affordable housing.

Yet the county’s own 2025 Housing and Homelessness Annual Report shows no decline in overall pressures. Case in point: the social housing waitlist has nearly doubled since the county published it’s 10-year Housing and Homelessness Plan in 2019, from 891 then to over 1,300 households now.

Despite no meaningful reduction in homelessness or waitlists, senior county staff compensation has managed to climb substantially alongside this additional funding.

Director of Communications Kathleen (Kate) Campbell’s salary rose 26.5% since 2023, reaching nearly $182,000 with benefits in 2025. Acting CAO Glen Dees saw a 34.7% increase to over $215,000. Associate Director of Housing and Homelessness Rebecca Snelgrove (formerly Carman) received roughly 37% growth, now earning more than $150,500. Manager of Homelessness Services Bill Smith takes home over $117,000 after a recent raise.

Last month, social service organizations responded with an open letter to Mayor Cleveland, defending the original plan, arguing parks are “for all members of the public” and accusing critics of lacking compassion.

Yet residents living the reality — including reports of public indecency and continued safety concerns in places like the Ecology Garden — tell a different story.

When responding to a media request, Ms. Campbell maintained confidence in the county’s 10-year plan, saying that an update is not required nor anticipated, and that annual reports are a sufficient “mechanism for keeping [the] strategy current and focused.”

The county admitted that the ‘Functional Zero’ levels of homelessness “may go beyond the ten-year life span of the plan.” It’s said that “‘Functional Zero’ does not mean that no one will ever experience homelessness, but rather that cases of homelessness are resolved faster than new cases occur.”

Whatever the timeline for achieving those objectives, Cobourg taxpayers deserve parks that serve children, families, and seniors, not open-air encampments. Real compassion requires accountability, enforcement, and solutions that address root causes rather than managing decline.