No need to consult residents before opening temporary homeless centre: City of Toronto

The mayor and city staff are sticking by a decision to open a temporary respite centre for homeless people in a suburban Toronto neighbhourhood, despite the objections of some community members.

“I think that city staff made the right decision,” says Mayor John Tory.

The Don Mills Civitan arena, near Don Mills Road and Lawrence Avenue East, sits empty during the summer. City staff have decided to turn it, and the Lambton Arena in the city’s west end, into temporary accommodations for Toronto’s homeless crisis.

Tory said he’s glad that an active community centre, where summer camps and community programs would have to be cancelled, isn’t being used instead.

The city needed the temporary sites after the closure of two other locations this spring. They’ll both be in operation for about four months and will have 120 cots for the homeless inside.

Last week, CityNews heard from some upset residents, including one who said she is upset the city didn’t consult the neighbourhood before making the decision to temporarily convert the site, which is located near the Shops at Don Mills.

“This is a relatively quiet neighbourhood into an area and a mall there is already struggling as it is,” resident Taylor Cameron told CityNews last week. She added that residents were “absolutely not” consulted.

She is circulating a poster that asks residents to “Say No” to the respite centre, and she singled out senior staff at the City of Toronto for not being receptive to residents’ concerns.

“Mary-Anne Bédard who was pivotal in making this decision flat out said, ‘we don’t have to consult you’,” says Cameron.

CityNews spoke to Bédard, who is the director of service planning, development and infrastructure for the city, who confirmed that staff do not have to consult residents about the location of temporary respite centres, although consultation does happen for permanent sites.

“There was not consultation before, because this is actually a staff decision to open these locations based on what was available to us, and what made the most sense,” she said.

Cameron is also concerned that there won’t be anything for the 120 people sleeping at the centre to do during the day.

Bédard said that won’t be the case.

“There’s going to be lots of things for people to do,” says Bédard. “We’re going to make sure that we have not only front line staff available, but also social worker staff, who will work with people on housing plans and will also be providing recreational experiences for people: television, WiFi, different things like that.”

There is also worry among residents that local schools were not notified of the respite centre. Don Mills Middle School is a few blocks away. Bédard said it’s not standard for the city to notify nearby schools when opening a new centre.

“You’re assuming then that there’s going to be a problem,” she said. “We have shelters and respites located all over the city, close to schools, close to daycare centres, close to shopping malls. This is not something new that is different just for this one community.”

Toronto District School Board spokeswoman Shari Schwartz-Maltz said none of the board’s schools have received any complaints about the respite centre.

Only one school heard from a parent who was “concerned,” she said.

The Don Mills centre will open on May 21, while the Lambton one has been open since the beginning of May.

The city says that site has sheltered 90 to 100 people a night since it’s opened.