Toronto expands winter homelessness plan, but staff say added shelter space still won't meet demand

As the weather gets colder and Toronto's homeless population gets bigger, the city is opening additional temporary shelter spaces, warming centres and respite sites this winter — though staff say it still won't be enough to meet the needs of people living on the street.

On Tuesday, the city released its Winter Services Plan for people experiencing homelessness, saying an additional 530 temporary spaces in existing shelters and three temporary respite centres will be made available from Nov. 15 through April 15, along with other emergency services.

"Toronto continues to see extreme pressures on our emergency shelter system," Gord Tanner, head of shelter and support services for the city, told reporters at a news conference Tuesday.

"We're doing everything we can to accommodate this growing need,: he said. "The shelter system is operating at capacity each night."

On average night this year, the city shelters about 12,200 people, Tanner said, up from 10,700 people last year.

More than 9,500 of those people are in the city's shelter system, with another 2,600 sheltered in hotels, he said.

But those numbers don't cover everyone who needs shelter, Tanner said. The city still turns away over 200 people each night who are looking for shelter beds, he said.

Like last year, warming centres will also open on colder days, offering space where people can rest inside with access to meals and bathrooms. 

When temperatures reach five degrees Celsius or lower, or when Environment Canada issues a weather warning, the city will open four warming centres offering 218 spaces, Tanner said. 

When the temperature reaches minus 15 degrees Celsius or lower, the city will open an additional additional warming centre and 164 shelter spaces, Tanner said. Outreach workers will also head out into the cold to encourage people to shelter inside, and to give out blankets, sleeping bags and winter clothing, he said.

Warming centres will remain open 24 hours a day until temperatures go back above the city's thresholds.

Advocates disappointed

Outreach worker Greg Cook, with Sanctuary Toronto, says he was disappointed by shortcomings he saw in the plan.

He said it doesn't add much compared to previous years, even though the homelessness crisis is getting worse. He says demand for the city's shelter system is likely even higher than what the city reports.

"People I work with, most people don't even bother calling," he said. "It's way beyond capacity. It's broken."

He acknowledged the city can't control the cost of housing, and is still waiting on a reception centre for refugees that Ottawa has pledged to fund near Pearson Airport, but says the city needs to prepare more shelter spaces for the future, instead of trying to play catch up each year.

In a news release Tuesday, the Shelter and Housing Justice Network, an advocacy group with which Cook is involved, called on the city to provide at least double the number of shelter beds it plans to add this winter and to pledge not to clear encampments while people have nowhere else to go. 

In the long term, the city should focus on affordability, the news release reads.

"The city must commit to effectively intervene in the financialization of housing and invest in safe, accessible, and truly affordable housing for all," it says.

Shelters 'not the answer to the housing crisis'

Tanner said the cost of living, an increase in refugee claimants and a lack of affordable, supportive housing and income supports are all contributing to the city's growing homelessness crisis. He urged all levels of government to invest in foundational solutions, while the city tries to offer emergency supports to its most vulnerable people.

Toronto homelessness services has nearly $800 million in annual funding, but is still unable to house everyone waiting for space, he said.

"Emergency shelters, warming centres and respites are not the answer to the housing crisis," Tanner said. "We know the best long-term solution to homelessness in Toronto is permanent, affordable housing with supports to provide people with the dignity and roof over their head that they deserve."

At Tuesday's conference, Coun. Alejandra Bravo said the provincial and federal governments have "abandoned" their responsibilities to supply affordable housing, and the city is doing what it can to fill in the gaps.

"This has been decades in the making," she said.

Some more permanent work is underway. Tanner said the city expects to open 286 new supportive or subsidized housing units this winter, which will move people off the streets and offer more space at existing shelters. 

The province has just received nearly $20 million for housing through the Canada-Ontario Benefit, which Tanner said will help 1,700 households afford market housing costs this winter.

Still, emergency shelters remain a large part of the government response to homelessness. 

The city plans to add 20 new permanent, purpose-built shelters in the coming years, Tanner said, with the city finalizing plans this winter to build the first six.

This winter, the city is also planning to support four new refugee houses, separate from its shelter system, Tanner said, which will offer 200 new spaces. Two have already opened, he said. Just over half of the people accessing Toronto's shelter beds are refugees, he said.