Hamilton will take another 15 asylum-seeking families from the U.S.

Pending city council ratification Friday, the city will strike a funding agreement with the federal government to take 15 households of "secondary migrants" — people who crossed the border in Quebec, then arrived in Toronto. Toronto's resources are tapped out when it comes to housing and resources, so the families will move from Toronto to Hamilton.

Councillors on the emergency and community services committee Thursday worried about the ability to house more families. Hamilton already accommodated 50 last summer who were in a similar situation. The local emergency shelter system, which typically houses the new arrivals, has been full for months.

That makes the money even more important, councillors said.

Hamilton has a long history of welcoming newcomers, said Tom Jackson, Ward 6 (east Mountain) councillor. But making sure Hamilton gets $476,102 from the federal Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is a "prudent approach" that "should not be seen, in my eyes, as less compassionate."

Sam Merulla, Ward 4 (east end) councillor, cited a recent report that shows a growing number of immigrants and refugees are ending up homeless because of a lack of affordable housing options. It does no good to welcome newcomers, he said, if there's nowhere for them to live and no services in place to support them.

"Saying yes is great," Merulla said, "but having the actual programs in place is what really matters."

Accommodating the 50 families last summer cost Hamilton $83,800 in emergency shelter costs, as well as hotel rooms to accommodate the overflow, says a staff report. It will cost another $136,752 this year, and taking 15 additional families will cost $255,550 more.

Hamilton accepts a certain number refugee and asylum-seeking families every year, often through Wesley Urban Ministries. The current influx dates back to 2017, when people began to enter Quebec from the U.S. More than 40,000 have entered "irregularly" since 2017, CBC News reports, thus avoiding checkpoints where they could be turned back under a Safe Third Country agreement between Canada and the U.S.

This funding agreement will be different, said Paul Johnson, general manager of emergency and community services. It will be between the federal government and the city directly, rather than a service agency. Johnson said the new arrivals are unlikely to notice a difference.

City staff are currently looking for 15 places for the potential new arrivals to live, the staff report says. If the city gets the funding agreement in time, the families will arrive this month.

The city will revisit the issue in September or October to see if Hamilton could accommodate even more asylum seekers.

Nrinder Nann, Ward 3 (central lower city) councillor, said this is happening because of racist U.S. immigration policies that put an onus on Canada to be a more compassionate country.

"It's also not lost on me the trend in this report," she said. "It's not just refugees coming from war torn countries … There's a surge of asylum seekers coming from the United States and it's imperative that we recognize that."