City Hall unveils winter 2023/24 homelessness strategy as shelter system already at capacity’

By Fred Alvarado Fred is a community journalist with FOCUS MEDIA ARTS CENTRE

Recently, City of Toronto unveiled a winter services plan that includes four warming centres, 180 beds into existing shelters, and a 24-hour respite site providing another 40 spaces, which will open on Nov. 15 and remain open until April next year.

The city’s plan to add 180 extra beds into existing shelters relies on reducing space between beds in most shelter programs to the pre-pandemic distance of 0.75 meters. Last year, the winter shelter plan included 230 additional spaces to bridge the gap.

Starting in mid November, warming centres will open when the temperature drops to -5 C, marking a departure from the previous threshold, which was set at -15 C.

The four warming centres will be located at:
* 136 Spadina Road,
* 75 Elizabeth Street,
* 15 Olive Avenue and
* 885 Scarborough Golf Club Road.

The city budgeted $660,000,000 for emergency shelter in Toronto this year, a figure that has now grown to $741,000,000.

Even before the coldest weather hits, city officials are acknowledging their winter plan may not be enough.

For years, Toronto has struggled with an escalating homelessness crisis. Last October, more than 9,000 people were using the shelter system on an average night. Both men’s and women’s emergency shelters are completely full on a routine basis.

In a press conference to reporters, Gord Tanner, General Manager of the Shelter, Support and Housing Administration and City Councillor Alejandra Bravo, Chair of the Economic and Community Development Committee, called to higher levels of government for aid — while appealing for any Toronto organization with extra space to contact city officials.