Ask any resident of the southern Ontario city of London, and they’ll likely to tell you that the downtown core of the community, especially Dundas Street, is a “no-go zone” or “zombieland.” What they’re referring to is the daily unfolding of the human tragedies of homelessness and rampant drug addiction that have marred the face of the downtown area.

Walking along the streets, there are numerous people lying unconscious, some enduring the notorious fentanyl fold, and needles and drug pipes are left on the sidewalks.

London is among Ontario’s hardest-hit cities in terms of homelessness, but it is by no means unique. A 2025 report by Western University Centre for Research on Health Equity shows that since 2022, the number of people who are unhoused has increased by 25 per cent across Ontario and 19 per cent in London.

The report warns “without urgent action, homelessness could triple in the next decade.”

London reflects a broader trend

Social scientists know that when social ills like homelessness are this dire, it’s part of a broader sustained and cumulative trend. The number of deaths due to drug overdoses in Canada has increased dramatically over the past two decades, from 795 in 2000 to 7,162 in 2023.

The chart below illustrates the trend:

Child poverty rates in Canada have also increased. A UNICEF May 2026 report shows that Canada’s child poverty rate has almost doubled what it was in 2020, putting one in five Canadian children in poverty.

As a 2023 UNICEF report stated: “Canada’s wealth gap between the most and least wealthy rose along with child poverty.” From 2020 to 2022, an additional 360,000 children were pushed into poverty, according to a recent Oxfam Canada study.

Despite worsening........

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