Millions of dollars in federal funding to help with the cost of housing asylum seekers has been given directly to the City of Toronto after the province pulled out of an immigration agreement with Ottawa earlier this month and blamed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for ‘the mess’ caused by an influx of migrants.

The federal government had previously announced $11 million in funding to help with asylum seeker costs in the Province of Ontario but after Premier Doug Ford’s government withdrew its cooperation on the file on July 5, Ottawa had to sign a memorandum of understanding with the City of Toronto in order to directly provide it with that money.

At a news conference at city hall on Friday, Minister of Border Security Bill Blair announced that such an agreement has now been signed and the city government has been provided with all $11 million that had been set aside for the costs of housing asylum seekers in Ontario.

The federal government is also providing Quebec with $36 million in funding to help cover some asylum seeker costs and Manitoba with another $3 million.

Speaking with reporters after the announcement, Mayor John Tory called the funding an “important step forward” but said that more money will ultimately be needed to fully address the challenges faced by the city. Toronto officials have previously said that the cost of providing shelter and social supports for asylum seekers is likely to exceed $64 million by the end of 2018.

“If you looked at where we were six or eight weeks ago, we had none of the money and we now have $11 million actually in hand and that is a start towards defraying some of the expenses we have incurred,” he said. ““I think this is an important step forward but it is by no means the ultimate solution to the entire challenge.”

About 270 asylum seekers still in college residences

In addition to the $11 million in funding, Ottawa has also agreed to pay for hotel rooms for hundreds of asylum seekers that have been staying in student residence buildings at Humber and Centennial colleges since May.

At one point, there were nearly 800 people staying in those facilities but that number has been reduced to 272 ahead of an Aug. 9 deadline for the asylum seekers to be moved from the residences to make way for the return of students.

The rest of those who were living in college dormitories have found permanent housing elsewhere in the region, the city said.

Blair said that the federal government will be paying for hotel rooms for all of the displaced asylum seekers until Sept. 30 in order to allow a more permanent housing option to be found.

A long-promised triage system that will redirect asylum seekers from already strained cities like Toronto and Montreal is also expected to be operational in Cornwall, Ont. by that point.

Blair said that “ideally” the Province of Ontario will participate in discussions around the resettlement of asylum seekers but if not he said that the federal government is prepared to have those discussions with municipal governments alone.

“We have heard from a number of mayors who have said that we not only can accommodate these individuals but we need them and want them,” he said. “Frankly, if we look back at the history of this country and reflect upon the enormous contribution that previous waves of refugees and asylum seekers have had on this city and this province and this country, they became an important part of the fabric and mayors know this. They are still subject to due process and a determination as to their eligibility for asylum but mayors also know that these individuals can make an important contribution to their community by working in their community and contributing to it.”

In response to the new agreement, Premier Doug Ford’s office called it a “re-announcement” that is “an insult to Ontario taxpayers who are still waiting for over $200 million to pay for the costs of illegal border crossers.”

The Ford government also criticized the appointment of Blair to a cabinet position they say has “no mandate, no direct reports, and no ability to stop the illegal border crossers.”