Committee discuss shelter beds report
Posted March 18, 2013 9:34 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A staff report being presented to a city committee on Monday backs up Mayor Rob Ford’s assertion that Toronto has shelter beds available every night.
The report submitted by Phillip Abrahams, the acting general manager of the city’s shelter, support and housing department, states: “there are beds available every night and additional emergency spaces are available to be activated if the need arises.”
Read the full report here.
The city’s community development and recreation committee is discussing the report at its meeting Monday. The committee’s chair, Coun. Jaye Robinson, has said there have been no cuts to the city’s shelter system this year and she’s keeping a close eye on the 96 per cent capacity rate.
The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) has held protests at Toronto City Hall and at Metro Hall demanding the city provide more services to help the homeless. The group claims shelters are full and demanded the city open an emergency shelter at Metro Hall, at King and John streets.
OCAP argues that even if beds are available, they’re not always easily accessible and, because the shelters are gender-based, many are off-limits to the neediest users.
“A hostel system operating at an acknowledged occupancy rate of 96% is one that can’t provide shelter, safety and dignity. People are being turned away and others are sleeping on the floor in the Referral Centre,” OCAP said in a March 13, 2013, email to members of the community development and recreation committee.
Ford has accused OCAP of creating a false sense of crisis and called a protest at Metro Hall earlier this month a “publicity stunt.”
The issue of shelter beds was front and centre during a council meeting last month, when Coun. Adam Vaughan called for an emergency debate on increasing services for homeless people instead of waiting for a staff report on the issue in March. Council rejected Vaughan’s motion.
“We’re failing to meet the needs of people living on the streets on an ongoing basis,” he said.
The city said it is currently working on improving its services for homeless people with a “housing first” outcome approach and to better use provincial funding to provide better integration of services between community partners and to create a more preventative rather than reactive approach in emergency situations.
Toronto’s shelter system provides 3,836 beds at 57 locations. During extreme cold weather alerts, the city opens an additional 172 beds at 18 locations. Bed availability is monitored in real time using the web-based Shelter Management Information System.
According to numbers from Feb. 13, 2013, there were no beds available for families. Co-ed adult facilities also had a 100 per cent occupancy rate. Occupancy rates for men’s, women’s and youth beds were 91 per cent, 99 per cent and 97 per cent, respectively.
