Toronto to close shelter hotel by end of year in move that will affect 251 unhoused people

Toronto will close a temporary homeless shelter at a hotel in St. Lawrence Market area by the end of the year, a move that will affect 251 unhoused people, the city announced this week.

The shelter hotel, 45 The Esplanade, formerly known as the Novotel Toronto Centre, stopped accepting new clients on Wednesday, the city said in a news release. The site is expected to return to hotel operations in 2023, the release said.

City staff, with the help of a group called Homes First Society, will work with residents to develop "individual relocation plans." 

That could mean a move to permanent housing or a bed at another city homeless shelter. Homes First Society, which operates the shelter hotel, has been talking to residents and has sent them a letter, the city said.

Gordon Tanner, general manager of the city's Shelter Support and Housing Administration, told CBC Toronto on Wednesday that the city will increase the number of workers at the site to help clients find accommodation.

"Certainly, we don't want anyone returning to an encampment and to sleep outdoors," he said.

"We'll have a very targeted approach where we'll bring in additional resources to bolster the housing staff that are already working there and to support as many people as we can to move into permanent housing as the program closes."

Each individual plan will provide options to people in terms of what best meets their needs, he added.

"Over the course of the next three months, we'll be very focused on connecting with people at the shelter and seeing if we can connect them to housing as our first opportunity. And if housing is is not available or does not meet their needs, then we be looking at an alternative shelter placement for those individuals," he added.

Tanner said the city will make "moderate" increases in its shelter bed capacity as public health restrictions have eased during the pandemic. 

In the release, the city said changing the spacing of beds in its shelters, which was done during the pandemic because of COVID-19, can increase capacity by 500 beds.

Some people may end up on the streets, resident says

But at least one resident, who goes by the name of Gru, said he and his neighbours have found it difficult to find a housing worker or caseworker at 45 The Esplanade.

Gru, who has lived at the shelter hotel since March 2021, said he thinks the closure could mean some people may end on the streets because they do not want to be in crowded shelters.

"I think my biggest fear is that, for a lot of my neighbours at the hotel, they're not going to want to go back to congregate spaces. I think there's still a very healthy fear of congregate spaces because COVID is ongoing," he said.

"I think that a lot of people are going to choose the lesser of two evils and go back to the streets, go back into the parks, under bridges, out in the ravines, set up in tents again."

The city said in the release that the shelter hotel will be the third temporary shelter location to be decommissioned this year. The other two locations, already closed, are the Better Living Centre, at 195 Princes' Blvd., and the former Days Inn hotel, at 1684 Queen St. E. 

There are 25 temporary homeless shelter sites open across the city.

According to a staff report approved by council on April 6, the city is working to extend leases at most temporary shelters until April 2023. 

"We cannot speak to the status of a possible lease extension as discussions with the landlord are ongoing," the city said in an email on Wednesday.