‘People aren’t going to disappear’: Toronto community divided over encampment response 

Staff at a downtown Toronto school are raising concerns about a nearby homeless encampment.

Westside Montessori School near Kensington Market educates children aged 18 months to nine years old. Owner Liz Bovey alleges over the past year, students, their parents and her staff have faced harassment from those living in a nearby encampment.

“Encampment members have thrown garbage at the children who are coming to school with their parents. (Students and parents have) been sworn at, they’ve been yelled at, they’ve been threatened,” she told Global News.

“We’ve had a staff member who was chased. She headed to the fire station across the street.”

Bovey says as a result, she’s had to move children inside at times.

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The encampment is located just outside of St. Stephen-in-the-Fields Church. Reverend Maggie Helwig says there are more than 20 people living there.

“I think what we’re seeing is a situation in which everyone in the neighbourhood is suffering because of a massive housing crisis in this city,” Helwig said.

“The city needs to find good places for these people to live where they are supported as they need to be supported.”

Dianne Saxe, the councillor for the area, says she has been working with staff at the church and the school to find a solution. She underlined the need to prioritize both those who remain homeless as well as safety in the community.

“We (also) have a duty to the people who live here, to the kids that go to school here, young people who rent apartments here, to keep the city safe,” Saxe said.

The city tells Global News it is aware of the encampment on 103 Bellevue Ave.

“Many of the occupants of the tents located on-site have voluntarily engaged with outreach staff and have been provided with offers of service and indoor accommodations. Streets to Homes (S2H) outreach teams have been on site 185 times this year and have connected with occupants 651 times. During this time, S2H has facilitated 26 referrals to indoor spaces,” spokesperson Anthony Toderian said in a statement.

The city did not elaborate on what kind of housing was being offered to those living in the encampment, but Helwig says, “These have been respite beds where you give up basically everything for a single night.”

There is no word on if the city plans to clear the encampment, but if individuals are forced to leave, advocates like Diana Chan McNally say there is no place for them to go.

“The city has been evicting people from encampments since 2021, that has never actually stopped. And what is happening is people get displaced to more remote locations, and that becomes problematic because it’s hard for workers like us to actually find people.”

“People aren’t going to disappear. We need to get people into housing right now.”

McNally says with more people falling on hard times and ending up in crisis, the onus is on the city to provide rental supplements and other financial supports.

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