Keep London's public washrooms open longer, downtown advocates urge

Keeping public washrooms open 12 hours a day downtown is a matter of dignity and human rights, particularly for those living on London, Ont.'s streets with nowhere else to go, say two city councillors.

Skylar Franke and David Ferreira are pushing against a staff recommendation to reduce the hours to five daily. Their request to maintain the current operating hours is also supported by Steve Cordes, head of Youth Opportunities Unlimited, the agency that helps at-risk teens, as well as people experiencing homelessness who say there are precious few spots to use the bathroom in the core, particularly outside business hours. 

"The fact that the bathrooms are there and accessible to people who are vulnerable in our community, it makes it such an important resource for people because they're going to need to use the facilities whether they're open or not," Cordes said. 

"If those public washrooms aren't open, it just pushes people into spaces that aren't washroom, and what a loss of dignity that is." 

Franke and Ferreira are asking city staff to find temporary cash to keep the washrooms in Victoria Park and on Dundas Place open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., instead of reducing the hours to noon to 5 p.m. Politicians will have a chance to debate their ask at city council on Tuesday.  

"We do still have the libraries across the community that have public washrooms, as well as our community centres, but those aren't in every single area and sometimes when you have to go, you have to go," Franke told CBC News. "Making sure that there are locations that are easily accessible to the community is really important."

City officials told CBC News the washrooms got temporary funding in 2021 from the city's own COVID-19 recovery money, allowing them to be open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

"The cost of the Dundas Place public washroom from 2021-2022 was $100,000 in base funding plus an additional $150,000 per year from (COVID grant) to cover expenses related to extended hours for cleaning and security," city officials said in an email. 

"This funding ended at the end of 2022, and the city is currently reviewing hours and operation of the washrooms on Dundas Place. While this is happening, the hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. have not changed."

A need, not a want

CBC News spoke to three women who don't have permanent housing and use the public washrooms on Dundas Place and in Victoria Park. Those who stay at the Ark Aid Mission, which is using space in a church close to Victoria Park, also use the park facilities. 

"Some people are trying to take advantage of the bathrooms and destroy things, and that's not right. A lot of the people that come here and use drugs, and they flush everything down the toilet," said one woman, who added there's a lack of places to go to the bathroom, but she understands that the cost to have security on-site may be high. 

"We're getting less and less things because other people don't respect the things we do get," said another woman. "I kind of get why the government wants to change the hours, but I think there should be more public washrooms. It's more of a need, not a want."  

A third woman told CBC News she often has to beg restaurant owners to use their facilities when there aren't public washrooms available, but she has no money to spend at those establishments. 

"I go in there bawling my eyes out, begging to use the bathroom because I need to go, and I have nowhere to go. I have no money in my pocket when they ask me to buy something. How am I supposed to buy something without money?"