Toronto’s winter services plan for those experiencing homelessness, unveiled Monday morning, came with a promise to expand spaces at existing locations, but also a warning the shelter system is stretched thin along with the city’s finances, prompting a call for more funding from other levels of government.
The city said its shelter system is currently housing 1,600 more people a night than it did at this time last year, with the figure now around 8,200 people a night.
The increased demand comes at the same time Toronto is closing an emergency shelter hotel due to the end of a pandemic lease, and with ongoing strains caused by the end of emergency COVID-19 financial supports from the province and federal government.
This winter, Gordon Tanner, the general manager of the city’s Shelter, Support, and Housing Administration, said the city will create more than 1,000 spaces through expanded capacity in shelters, refugee-specific settings, and new affordable homes.
During periods of extreme cold weather, the city will activate up to 60 spaces in warming centres, which are currently offered at Metro Hall and the Scarborough Civic Centre.
“The city will be introducing safe, moderate increases in capacity in the shelter system, by decreasing the distance between beds,” said Tanner. The change he said, will add about 500 beds to the system and was done with consultation with health experts and within the Ontario’s health guidelines.
“As much as COVID-19 continues to be an ongoing public health concern, health experts agree that extreme cold presents an even greater risk to the health and wellness of those living outdoors,” he said.
Tanner also said there is a need for additional funding to help cover the costs of housing, especially with the city’s ongoing budget constraints caused from the pandemic. The city is spending $647 million in 2022 to provide emergency housing and provide services, but Tanner said simply adding additional beds to the system is an unsustainable short-term solution.
In Ontario, Tanner said the income supports the province is offering through public works, and the Ontario Disability Support Program, are too low to cover individual shelter needs.
“As we emerge from the pandemic restrictions, the need for shelter has only increased, while COVID funding from other orders of government has decreased or ended, including ongoing funding for temporary emergency shelters,” Tanner said.
“We’re still working with a system that is not appropriate for the need which we see with the emergency shelter system for a range of mental health and substance use supports.”
While the city said it’s doing what it can with limited resources, outreach worker Greg Cook countered that isn’t nearly enough. Toronto has an estimated 10,000 people experiencing homelessness and the city’s efforts ahead of winter, he said, still leave about a fifth of the population out in the cold.
“You have over 170 people calling every single night on average right now and not getting a bed,” Cook said.
“There will be people, hundreds of hundreds of people, left out in the cold this winter and I have no doubt many of them will die.”
Cook called the city’s figure of 1,000 new shelter spaces “misleading” and said the number was much lower. While he agrees Toronto shouldn’t be forced to foot the bill to house people alone, he accused the city of not doing enough to ensure the provincial and federal governments will provide more funding.
“I think they need to say it’s an emergency and call on help for the federal government and the province and really make sure people are okay this winter, and they’re not doing that with this plan,” Cook said.
On Tuesday morning, advocates with the Shelter Housing Justice Network will be presenting a a letter and petition to Mayor John Tory’s office calling on the city to do more to prevent deaths this winter.