Toronto opens warming centres Thursday after criticism from advocates, councillors
Centres originally set to open Friday, after temperatures were expected to plummet
The City of Toronto opened three warming centres Thursday evening following criticism from advocates and councillors on an earlier decision to open them a day later instead.
The city backtracked its original plan after announcing it Thursday morning, after councillors and homelessness advocates took aim at the decision to open centres Friday — the day Environment Canada predicts heavy snow, a deep wind chill and strong winds to hit.
After "monitoring the forecast," the city opened centres at 7 and 8 p.m. in anticipation of a strong winter storm expected to come this evening and last through until at least Saturday.
Temperatures are predicted to plummet Friday morning, making way for possible flash freezes from the rain expected to accumulate the night before.
Warming centres are indoor spaces vulnerable people and those experiencing homelessness can go to rest, eat, access the washroom and get referrals to other emergency supports, the city says. Centres are available for walk-in at:
- Scarborough Civic Centre at 150 Borough Drive at 7 p.m.
- Metro Hall at 55 John Street at 7 p.m.
- Mitchell Field Community Centre at 89 Church Avenue at 8 p.m.
'Embarrassing for the city,' advocate says
While the change in decision was a much-needed victory, Cathy Crowe, a recently retired veteran street nurse specializing in homelessness advocacy, says she doesn't believe it would've happened without pressure on the city on all fronts, including from organizations like Progress Toronto and Shelter Housing Justice Network.
"It's embarrassing for the city, I think it's a shame. I think it's very a dark page for the city that this continues 2022," said Crowe.
The city's approach to emergency winter shelter has remained largely inflexible, reactive and inadequate throughout the past years regardless of the mayor in charge, says Crowe, pointing to what she says is a stark contrast between the city's efforts to ready snow plows versus emergency shelters.
She says while the city's initial decision was unsurprising, the stakes were higher than in recent years amid a deepening homelessness crisis, increasing number of homeless encampments and recent attacks against vulnerable and unhoused individuals.
"I think it speaks to the need for the city to open warming centres and leave them open for the whole rest of the winter," said Crowe.
Councillors call for review of winter emergency shelter response
Three councillors who sit on the city's board of health criticized the city's approach Thursday, saying the city's thresholds to open warming centres "forces people to risk their health and safety on the streets in snow, rain, and winter weather."
City protocol shows warming centres only open at 7 p.m. the day an alert is issued. Temperatures typically need to dip below -15 C or feel like -20 C with the wind chill for them to open. On Friday, the wind chill is expected to be -20.
In a release, councillors Gord Perks, Alejandra Bravo and Ausma Malik say they asked for "options" to increase the hours and locations of warming centres and drop-ins starting Thursday night.
"Each day, over 100 people are turned away from central intake because there is no space available in our shelters, which are stretched to capacity," the statement reads.
The councillors say they will be requesting a review of the city's extreme cold weather alert policy when the board meets in January to provide better protection for people experiencing homelessness.
Toronto-St. Paul's councillor Josh Matlow agrees there's a need for review — calling the city's temperature thresholds "arbitrary."
"The reality is that any temperature below freezing is dangerous for people to be sleeping exposed outdoors," he said.
Matlow is also calling for more proactive communication on emergency shelter plans, saying he only learned of the city's warming centre plans on Twitter Thursday morning like most others.
"It shouldn't take public calls by people... to get the city to do what I think is intuitive to most reasonable people, which is to have warming centres ready and available before a major storm hits, rather than opening them in the midst of one."