Toronto's shelter catastrophe was decades in the making

It was decades coming. A succession of Toronto mayors and city councils, city shelter bureaucrats and budgets that ignored the cumulative evidence, which included shelters bursting at the seams and always far beyond council's mandated 90% capacity.

They ignored the disease outbreaks (tuberculosis, Norwalk virus, Strep A), some of which killed people.

Toronto's emergency-shelter shortfall is morally negligent

While homeless shelters remain persistently near capacity, dark and dirty secrets about Toronto's emergency-shelter shortfall are being revealed once again.

Thirteen years after activists with the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee demonstrated that the shelter system was failing to offer even the basic necessities recommended by the United Nations for refugee camps, a new report by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty - Out In The Cold: The Crisis In Toronto's Shelter System - doesn't beat around the bush.

Toronto’s homeless gay youth frequently face abuse in shelters: study

Homeless youth who are members of a sexual minority often experience verbal and physical abuse in Toronto’s shelters — a problem staff aren’t properly trained to deal with, according to a University of Toronto researcher.

A city study recently revealed that almost one in five homeless youth are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or queer. U of T doctoral candidate Alex Abramovich is calling on the city to open a shelter specifically for that group, and to provide staff at other shelters with mandatory training for dealing with homophobia and transphobia among shelter users.

Toronto’s missing shelter beds

It’s the night of Jan. 21. Toronto’s temperature has dipped below -15 degrees Celsius without the wind chill, and an extreme cold weather alert is in effect. It’s so cold that the wind feels like it’s tearing through the skin of anyone brave enough to weather the city’s frigid streetscape.

Sanctuary Ministries of Toronto street pastor Doug Johnson Hatlem is one of those people.

Shelter stat shocker

Why do homeless people report being turned away from shelters, when the system shows dozens of empty beds? We may be closer to an answer.

A city report released on Monday, March 11, reveals that shelters are operating closer to 100 per cent capacity than was previously thought, and are using beds on a daily basis that are supposed to be reserved for emergencies.

Strange Economy

The mayor got it half right: the city is overspending on shelter housing for the homeless.

But it’s not too much ($165 million yearly) in the way he thinks. It’s exorbitant because shelters are a pricey way to ensure that people aren’t doing without a roof over their heads in this wealthy city.

And regardless, the system isn’t doing well. As of the start of 2013, the province, which adds its own contribution to the city’s $165 million, capped funding under the positive-sounding Community Homelessness Prevention Initiative. Cash allotted will no longer be adjusted for inflation, nor for actual need based on the number of clients.