Toronto extends leases for 17 temporary shelters to 5 years

Toronto will extend the leases of 17 temporary shelter hotels for up to five years as part of its homeless services, city council decided this week.

The expansion is part of a new 10-year capital plan for homeless services, in which the city aims to replace shelter hotels that first opened during the COVID-19 pandemic with permanent facilities. The capital plan envisages the creation of 20 new shelters within 10 years.

Gord Tanner, general manager of Toronto Housing and Support Services, said in an interview Friday that the city plans to identify or acquire five new sites this year. He said the new permanent shelters could support specific groups, including youth, families and indigenous peoples.

“This plan allows us to build resilience into the future so we can continue to get people off the streets, into shelters and into shelters, and we can begin to do so in a cost-effective way that supports the best outcomes. in the system,” Tanner said.

The city has not released the names of the 17 shelters or the cost of renewing their leases. During the pandemic, the city rented a total of 29 shelter hotels.

Tanner told the council Thursday that it costs the city about $260 a night to house a person in a hotel at the shelter. He said the largest shelter hotel in Toronto has 380 people, while three or four have more than 200 people each. Some have drawn more concern from community members than others, he added.

On Thursday, the council approved a staff report that would allow the city to implement a capital plan that would give employees the right to continue renting out the shelter hotels as the city tries to build its basic housing system. Tanner told the council that the report does not reflect the concerns of specific communities about private lodging hotels.

“The report really allows us to stabilize the shelter system, which has been going through a very difficult time over the last few years, to develop appropriate housing plans for clients who use those programs and transition to permanent housing. To continue to meet the great need of people in the city who need our services right now,” Tanner said.

Tanner said the shelter is expected to have about 80 beds, a size that will allow staff to focus more. Smaller shelters can also be better integrated into local communities, he said.

The data shows that 10,607 people are actively homeless in Toronto

The capital plan represents a shift from housing on leased land to building new urban facilities with a maximum of 80 beds.

The city has added thousands of shelter beds during the pandemic, signed leases with hotels to provide accommodation, and create much-needed space among people using the service. But officials have long warned that sheltered hotels are not financially viable in the long term.

According to city statistics, 10,607 people were actively homeless in Toronto in the past three months. As of Thursday, a total of 9,835 people remained in the city's shelter system. In December 2023, an average of 170 people per night were unable to secure a bed in the shelter system.

Tanner said with the help of the Canadian Red Cross, as of Feb. 4, the city is supporting 12,065 homeless people in and out of the shelter system. Almost half of them are refugees.

Small shelters are a good idea, says the lawyer

Diana Chan McNally, community worker at Toronto's All Saints Church-Community Center, said it's good news the city is extending leases on shelter hotels and not closing them immediately, which she says would be “absolutely disastrous” for the homeless. . But he agreed that shelter hotels are not a long-term solution to homelessness.

“Really, we need to move out of these shelter hotels,” he said. “I'd really like to see us break out of these spaces and build smaller, more appropriate spaces, and spaces that are appropriate for different communities.”

Chan McNally said the capital plan is something that should be in the works given the pressures on the housing system.

“It should have happened a long time ago. We've seen the homelessness crisis get astronomical and out of control in our city, and we haven't done nearly enough to actually address it,” he said.

Chan McNally said he's concerned that new permanent shelters could be in underserved neighborhoods, far from downtown, and said the city should have a plan to shelter people in the communities they want. But he said he supports the city's focus on building smaller shelters.

“When you have a large shelter, it's like putting people in a warehouse, it's not good. It's a terrible situation to put people in a place where there are hundreds of other people and not enough staff to meet your needs,” he said.